West Indies won the Prudential cup
The second World Cup, officially called The Prudential
Cup, proved, like the first in 1975, a great success,
and again West Indies carried off the title. Unlike
four years earlier, it was not blessed throughout with
blissful sunshine during the fortnight it was in progress
- June 9 to June 23.
Nevertheless, the three Saturdays provided fine weather
and there was only one bad period - June 13, 14, 15
- when not a ball could be bowled in the match between
West Indies and Sri Lanka at The Oval. The ground at
Old Trafford was also affected, but two days sufficed
for England to beat Canada in a low-scoring match.
Again eight countries took part, and from a cricketer's
point of view it was a shame that once more South Africa
were left in the cold. To fill the two remaining places,
a separate tournament was organised among associate
members of the International Cricket Conference. From
this emerged Sri Lanka, who took part in 1975, and Canada.
The matches were confined to one innings of 60 overs
for each side. No bowler was allowed more than twelve
overs per innings and the umpires applied strict interpretation
in regard to wides and bumpers to prevent negative bowling.
The Prudential Assurance Company put £250,000
in the kitty and the gate receipts from the World Cup
came to £359,700, almost double the £188,000
for the first competition. The total attendance last
summer was 132,000 compared with 160,000 four years
earlier, the drop being almost entirely due to the bad
weather. The surplus, distributed to the full and associate
members of the International Cricket Conference, came
to £350,000.
Prizemoney amounted to £25,900. West Indies,
the winners, received the Prudential Cup and £10,000;
England, runners-up, £4,000; Pakistan and New
Zealand, losing semi-finalists, £2,000 each; and
winners of group matches £500 each. There were
also Man of the Match awards: £300 to Vivian Richards
(West Indies) in the final, £200 each in the semi-finals,
and £100 for the nominated player in each group
match.
At their meeting which followed the World Cup, the
International Cricket Conference agreed to make the
competition a four-yearly event with the 1983 tournament
again being staged in England. The first World Cup,
officially called The Prudential Cup, proved an outstanding
success. Blessed by perfect weather, ideal conditions
prevailed. Altogether fifteen single innings matches,
each confined to 60 overs, were played in England between
June 7 and June 21. There were a few one-sided contests
among some tremendous and keenly fought struggles. The
highlight came in the Final at Lord's where Australia
and West Indies were in combat from 11am until 8.45pm
when The Duke of Edinburgh presented the Cup to Clive
Lloyd, the West Indies captain.
Eight countries took part, but unfortunately not South
Africa. The Prudential put £100,000 in the kitty
and the overall takings came to more than £200,000
with an aggregate attendance of 158,000. Lord's was
packed for the final with 26,000 present and receipts,
a record for one day, of £66,000. The winners
received £4,000. Australia, runners-up, £2,000
and the losing semi-finalists, England and New Zealand,
£1,000 each.
The profits from the competition were distributed:
10 per cent to the United Kingdom and 7½ per
cent to each of the seven other participants. The balance
went to the inaugurators, the International Cricket
Conference, to distribute at their discretion to the
non-participating associated member countries, the International
coaching fund and the reserve account for the promotion
of the next International World Cup.
When the I.C.C. met in London towards the end of June
member countries were invited to submit ideas for the
next World Cup. India had already said that they were
keen to act as hosts, but several members thought it
was hard to beat England as the venue.
The main view for this reasoning was the longer period
of daylight in England in June when 60 overs for each
side can be completed the same day.
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