The inaugural cricket World Cup was held in England in 1975. At the time, the One-Day International, or ODI as it is now called, was a newborn baby.

The first ODI was played in January 1971 between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was just something the officials decided to do when the first three days of the third Ashes Test were washed out. They abandoned the Test match to, instead, play a one-off one-day game, consisting of 40 eight-ball overs per side.

Between 1971 and 1975, there had been only 18 ODIs played before the Prudential World Cup. The eight teams at the World Cup included all the six full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the time. South Africa had been suspended due to its apartheid policies. Sri Lanka, the most prominent among the non-Test playing countries, was included. The eighth team was East Africa, comprising players from Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda.

Pool A comprised England, New Zealand, India and East Africa. Pool B had Australia, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

With the 13th edition of the cricket ODI World Cup underway, a look back at the most exciting match of the very first edition of the tournament in 1975, between eventual champions West Indies and… Pakistan

Just the previous summer, Pakistan had had an excellent tour of England. They had become only the second team, after the Australians in 1948, to tour England and not lose a single match — Test, first-class or ODI. Though the three Test series with England had ended 0-0, Pakistan had easily won the two ODIs.

A true cricket connoisseur no less than Richie Benaud called Pakistan ‘the favourites’ at the first World Cup. Several members of the Pakistan team had also been plying their trade for the English county sides.

Led by Asif Iqbal, Pakistan opened their campaign against the strong Australian side at Leeds. The Aussies scored 278/7 in the allotted 60 overs, a very good score in those days. There were no field restrictions. All the 11 players could be placed anywhere on the ground and not every ball missing the leg stump was declared wide.

Pakistan were well placed at 181/4 for the final launch but legendary paceman Dennis Lillie ran through them and they were all out for 205.

Next, Pakistan took on the West Indies at Edgbaston, a do-or-die for them. The West Indies were also among the favourites. They were at ‘home’ with 12 of the 14 team members also active in England’s county circuit.

Pakistan suffered a setback before the match: skipper Asif Iqbal had to go under the knife for haemorrhoids and was laid up in hospital. They were also missing the services of the young all-rounder Imran Khan, who would later emerge as one of Pakistan’s greatest cricketers. Imran was unavailable for this match, as he had to sit for his exams at Oxford University.

If the team was missing the services of its future greatest all-rounder, the country’s future greatest batsman was debuting. Javed Miandad was appearing in a match on the eve of his 18th birthday.

Another debutant was Pervez Mir, the medium-paced all-rounder. P.J. Mir had a short international career, with only three ODIs. He later made his mark as a political analyst and has been anchoring talk shows on TV channels for a long time now.

Winning the toss, Pakistan elected to bat. Stand-in captain Majid Khan, a first cousin of Imran Khan, was at his peak. He was Pakistan’s top-scorer (third overall) at the 1975 World Cup. Majid scored 60.

Almost all the recognised batsmen, from Wasim Raja (58) to Mushtaq Mohammad (55), contributed with half-centuries. Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad chipped in with 31 and 24, respectively. Pakistan managed a good total of 266/7.

The West Indian start was rocked by a mesmerising spell of seam bowling from Sarfraz Nawaz. Their top three batsmen — Gordon Greenidge, Roy Fredericks and Alvin Kallicharran — all fell to almost unplayable deliveries by the big man. The scoreboard read 36-3.

It could have been worse had Majid not dropped a routine catch offered by the great Rohan Kanhai off Asif Masood. Still, the Pakistani bowlers continued to make inroads and the wickets kept on falling. The only big innings came from the West Indies skipper, Clive Lloyd, who was caught behind off the teenage Javed Miandad for 53.

Miandad had started his international career as a genuine all-rounder and the leg spinner bowled his full quota of 12 overs. When the eighth wicket fell, the Windies were exactly 100 runs behind the target. Veteran wicketkeeper Deryck Lance Murray and Vanburn Alonzo Holder then made a stand of 37. Holder became Sarfraz’s fourth victim. With 64 still required, Pakistan’s victory seemed assured.

But Murray and the last man Andy Roberts refused to give up. They were also helped by Majid’s field placing, which appeared neither single-saving nor boundary-saving. The incredible partnership went past 50 runs. The West Indian spectators were celebrating every run.

It came down to the last over, with five needed for the Windies to win. Astonishingly, Majid threw the ball to leg spinner Wasim Raja, who had not yet bowled in the match. The more experienced Mushtaq Mohammad, who had sent down two good overs conceding only seven runs, might have been a better choice.

Roberts failed to score off the first ball. The second was lightly pushed to the leg side and the batters ran for a single. Wicketkeeper Wasim Bari threw the ball to the bowler for a possible run out, but it resulted in an overthrow. The third delivery resulted in an easy two in the mid-wicket region. The scores were level.

Then, Roberts placed it on the leg side for the winning run.

Though Murray (61 not out) had played a heroic role, it was Sarfraz who was named the Man of the Match.

This match between the eventual champions and Pakistan is still recalled as the most exciting of the inaugural edition of cricket’s biggest quadrennial showpiece.

The writer is a freelance sports journalist based in Lahore.
X: @IjazChaudhry1 Email: ijaz62@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 15th, 2023