1992 is a good place to start. It was the year the World Cup went bright and colourful — lights, white balls, tidy uniforms, and a tidier trophy.
There was one other idea that had been borrowed from World Series Cricket: field restrictions, for the first time in One-Day Internationals, which limited to two the number of players outside the circle. This encouraged batsmen to hit over the infield, a freedom Martin Crowe exploited by deploying Mark Greatbatch as a pinch-hitter.
The left-handed Greatbatch, a beefy, moustachioed batsman, came into the side for New Zealand’s third game of the tournament, against South Africa. Promoted to the opening slot from one drop, he hurried to a 60-ball 68 as the home side made short work of a run chase of 191.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Afterwards, Martin Crowe, the New Zealand captain, mentioned that Greatbatch had been on such an adrenalin binge he later remembered very little of his innings — in fact, Greatbatch had, said Crowe, played an ‘unconscious’ innings,” the New Zealand Herald reported.
“Heaven help the bowlers, then, when Greatbatch bats with all his conscious faculties in full array.”
Greatbatch continued in that vein for the rest of the World Cup, striking more than twice as many sixes as anyone else. That wasn’t the only unorthodox idea Crowe, a largely orthodox batsman, put into action.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the first game of the World Cup against Australia, he opened the bowling with the Kenyan-born Indian-origin off-spinner Dipak Patel. “Initially, I was very anxious,” Patel told the ICC website recently. “I was approached two days before by Warren Lees (the coach) and Martin Crowe, saying it could be a possibility. It was confirmed the night before at the team meeting.”
Patel denied Australia’s openers any pace, and took one for 36 from his 10 overs as New Zealand won.
“As the World Cup progressed, our successes with an unorthodox approach to the game created a winning culture within the team,” Patel said.
Kiwi hearts would be broken in the semifinals, though, by a strong-willed Pakistan. Its leader Imran Khan had been a doubt to participate in the World Cup at all, with a persistent shoulder injury, but after missing two of the first three games, he resumed charge. He pushed himself up the order to three in the semifinals, having done so only once before in the tournament, and with modest results (a 69-ball 22 against Sri Lanka).
Imran made 44 in the semifinals and persisted with his place for the final showdown against England. On Pakistan’s greatest cricketing night, his 72 proved to be the game’s highest score.
Years later, M.S. Dhoni did much the same thing, walking out ahead of a ferociously-in-form Yuvraj Singh to make a vital 91 in the final of the 2011 edition. Dhoni wanted a right-hander in, plus he felt he had the measure of Muttiah Muralitharan.
“It was a big decision,” he said later. “I knew that if I promoted myself and didn’t score runs I would be asked why I couldn’t stay back.”
There have been other bold decisions by captains in pursuit of the World Cup. Ricky Ponting stuck his neck out, by all accounts, to have Andrew Symonds — a hitherto unconvincing all-rounder — included in the squad for the 2003 World Cup.
Australia was on the rack in its opening game with Pakistan, lurching at 86 for four, before Symonds played one of the greatest one-day innings by an Australian, making an unbeaten 143. He revealed later that in the months before the World Cup he had seriously considered giving up cricket to try his hand at rugby.
Back in 1987, when Australia was chasing its first World Cup, Allan Border brought himself on to bowl in the final, with England seemingly on the road to victory. Batting on a comfortable 41, Mike Gatting attempted a reverse-sweep off Border’s first ball, only to be caught behind the wicket. Australian cricket would never be the same again.