News Sports Cricket World Cup 2015: Of Caribbean Calypso, Gavaskar's bizarre batting

World Cup 2015: Of Caribbean Calypso, Gavaskar's bizarre batting

Three months after the death of legendary cricket wordsmith Neville Cardus, who vividly portrayed the romance of the traditional game, the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1975 held the first World Cup -- an event

Australia's left-arm pacer Gary Gilmour emerged as a star, finishing with an enviable six for 14 in the semi-final against England, and capping it with an impressive five for 48 effort in the June 21 final that went down to the wire.

Drama started early in the summit clash after the West Indies were put in to bat.

Opener Fredericks hammered a superb six off quick bowler Denis Lillee. The Caribbean supporters broke into applause, but the umpire declared him out hit wicket.

The left-hander had failed to keep his balance and dislodged the bails with his foot.

The West Indies were in a spot of bother at 50 for three, but Llyod came up with a superb 102 to propel his side to 291 for eight.

The formidable Australians took up the chase, but the Caribbeans fielded superbly and effected four run outs.

Losing wickets regularly, Australia seemed on the brink of defeat at 233 for nine, till a valiant rearguard action from two famous Australian pacers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson changed the complexion of the game.

But as the pair appeared cruising towards victory, Thomson scooped a ball for Fredericks to take the catch.

To Australia's relief, the umpire declared it a 'no ball'. As the duo started off, hesitatingly, for a single, Fredericks threw the ball towards the wicket attempting another run out.

But the leather missed the stumps and it simply vanished into the hordes of West Indies supporters who had invaded the field hoping for a West Indies victory.

With the ball unavailable, Lillee and Thompson made merry, taking one run after another. But the umpire awarded only two runs when things calmed down.

The match restarted after the spectators were removed from the ground and the West Indies finally won the match by 17 runs to lift the maiden World Cup trophy.