The 50-Over World Cup is the longest running trophy in men’s cricket. Since its inception in 1975, we’ve seen some stunning performances, while the game has grown to include more countries than ever before.
Here is a roundup of the World Cup finals from 2007 to 2023.
2007: Australia v Sri Lanka: Australia won by 53 runs
The 2007 World Cup tournament headed to the West Indies, but there was no Caribbean sunshine in sight when Australia took on Sri Lanka in the final. The start of the match was delayed by rain and, when the teams finally made it onto the field, the game had been reduced to 38 overs a side.
Despite that handicap, Australia’s Adam Gilchrist produced the highest individual score in a World Cup final when he smashed a stunning 149 from 104 deliveries. Australia’s total of 281/4 always looked too challenging in a rain affected game, and Sri Lanka would eventually fall some way short of their target.
Rain intervened again, leaving the Sri Lankans to bat for 36 overs as they chased a revised target of 269. Half centuries for Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara gave them hope, but wickets fell at regular intervals. Wickets were shared around the Australian team, with Michael Clarke returning the best figures of 2/33. Sri Lanka’s innings eventually fizzled out at 215/8 leaving Australia as winners by 53 runs under the Duckworth Lewis method.
2011: Sri Lanka v India: India won by 6 wickets
Three countries hosted the 2011 World Cup with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh taking the honours. The conditions were always likely to favour the home nations, and two of those teams made it all the way to the final.
India and Sri Lanka had both finished in second place in their respective groups, so it looked as though the final would be a closely fought contest. Sri Lanka batted first and their total of 274/6 should have been a testing one for their opponents to chase down, in the days when big team totals were rare.
Sri Lanka’s innings was based around Mahela Jayawardene, who made an undefeated 103 from 88 balls. Yuvraj Singh was the pick of India’s bowlers with figures of 2/49.
India’s reply started badly when the power hitter Virender Sehwag was dismissed for a duck in the first over. The great Sachin Tendulkar was next to go for 18 and, with India at 31/2, Sri Lanka had the advantage.
Gautam Gambhir began the recovery with 97, but India had fallen behind the run rate. It was left to MS Dhoni to get his team over the line, with one of the best death innings of all time. Dhoni will be remembered as one of cricket’s great finishers, and his brilliant 91 from just 79 balls saw India win by six wickets with ten balls to spare.
2015: New Zealand v Australia: Australia won by 7 wickets
New Zealand and Australia had been joint hosts of the 2015 World Cup and were the strongest teams in the group stages. In fact, the Kiwis had earlier beaten the Aussies in the groups, so the final was all set up to be a classic.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a one-sided affair. New Zealand batted first and couldn’t recover from losing their talisman, Brendon McCullum, for a third-ball duck. Grant Elliott made a battling 83 to give the Kiwis’ score some respectability, while Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner took three wickets each, as New Zealand made 183 all out.
The total was never likely to be enough, although Trent Boult claimed the early wicket of Aaron Finch to leave Australia stuttering at 2/1. David Warner and Steve Smith led the recovery, before skipper Michael Clarke added his side’s top score of 74 from 72 balls. Australia coasted to victory with just three wickets down, and more than 16 overs to spare.
2019: New Zealand v England: England won on boundary count after match tied
The closest final in the history of the game took place at Lord’s in July 2019. After an early elimination in the previous World Cup, England had revolutionized the limited overs format, scoring at high run rates throughout the innings and setting team records in the preceding four years.
The 2019 World Cup wasn’t as high scoring, but England were favourites to win after restricting New Zealand to 241/8 in the final. The reply stuttered, however, and it needed another miraculous innings from Ben Stokes to bring the scores level after 100 overs.
The match went into a Super Over, but still the teams could not be separated. Both sides scored 15 runs in their additional six balls which meant that England won the World Cup because they had hit more boundaries in their regulation 50 Overs. As commentator Ian Smith memorably said, they had done it by the ‘barest of margins.’
2023: India v Australia: Australia won by 6 wickets
The 2023 World Cup final saw Australia extend their record to six tournament wins. Host nation India had gone into the match as favourites after winning all of their group matches, followed by a comfortable victory over New Zealand in the semis.
The final, played in Ahmedabad on November 19th, saw Australia win the toss and insert India. The home side started positively and had reached 148/3 before the Australian seamers, aided by prodigious reverse swing, restricted Rohit Sharma’s men to 240 all out.
Chasing 241 to win, Australia looked to attack from the first ball. The run rate was high in the Powerplay, but India took early wickets, and the match was in the balance with the Aussies at 47/3.
From that stage, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne took over to make the game comfortable for Australia. They put on a partnership of 192, with Head taking the Player of the Match award for his 137. With India’s bowlers having no answer, Australia cruised to a six-wicket win with seven overs to spare.
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