Best team to not win the cup - England, 1987

While there's no doubt that the five-day format of the game and particularly, the Ashes, holds more appeal for England, back in the late seventies and the eighties, they were perhaps one of the most competitive One-Day unit going around. One of the pioneers of the shorter format of the game, England reached the final of the 1979 tournament and then made the semis in the 1983 edition.

There were many firsts when the tournament headed along to the subcontinent in 1987. This was the first time that it was held outside England, matches were 50-overs a side, unlike the previous three editions, where matches were held over 60 overs.There was a new sponsor, Reliance Industries replacing Prudential plc. There was a new defending champion as well, after India had surprised West Indies in the 1983 final. Sadly for England, there wasn't to be a fairytale story as they continued to be the perennial bridesmaid, losing to arch-rivals, Australia,in the final.

England had shown plenty of promise and form going into the tournament. They had clinched the World Series Trophy (England, Australia and West Indies) in Australia after a highly successful Ashes campaign; they were also the winners of the Benson and Hedges Cricket Challenge (Australia, England, West Indies and Pakistan), held in Perth, before the World Series Trophy. In April, 1987, they performed creditably in the Sharjah Cup (involving Australia, India and Pakistan besides England), losing only to India in the round-robin format and finished as winners. Back home, they had beaten Pakistan by a 2-1 margin in the Texaco Trophy. Despite the immense success, not many rated them. After all the tournament was being played in the subcontinent - and that only meant an India v Pakistan final.

England's first match was at Gujranwala, up against the mighty West Indies - it wasn't the Caribbean team of yore. Joel Garner had retired and Malcolm Marshall, in the peak of his prowess had opted out of the tournament. Still the attack oozed class. Patrick Patterson, one of the fastest bowlers of those times led the attack in the company of young Courtney Walsh and Winston Benjamin. The spin twins, Roger Harper and Carl Hooper, were as good as their counterparts from the other nations. From the class of 1983, Desmond Haynes and Sir Viv Richards were still omnipresent. Having restricted West Indies to 243, England lost their way against the off-spin of Hooper, collapsing from 98/2 to 131/6. Allan Lamb held firm but England still needed 91 runs from the last 10 overs. Despite being completely dehydrated, Lamb picked on the inexperience of Walsh to register a stunning victory.

England's confidence though was punctured in the very next game. In a rain affected encounter in Rawalpindi, which forced the game into the reserve day, they were cruising along at 206/4, needing another 34 runs from the final four overs. Abdur Qadir got rid of Lamb and panic set in. England were bundled out for 221 in the 49th over, losing by 18 runs. They were to lose against the hosts once again in Karachi, but two wins each against West Indies and Sri Lanka were enough to guarantee Mike Gatting's men a berth in the semis.

England though weren't expected to go any further. Up against them were defending champions, India, playing in front of their home crowd, at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. Asked to bat first, England rode on a sublime 115 from Graham Gooch and an equally adventurous 56 from Gatting to finish at a creditable 254 after 50 overs. It was a masterful display from the two batsmen as they negated India's strength, spin, with some excellent footwork as well as a profitable sweep shot.

Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, India looked to be on course for the target when Kapil Dev, in an act of recklessness, hoisted Eddie Hemmings to Gatting at the deep mid-wicket boundary. Hemmings followed it up with the important scalp of Mohammad Azharuddin (64) and the rest of the lower order batsmen simply caved in. Hemmings, who had conceded 27 runs in his first three overs finished with impressive figures of 4/52. India's dream of defending their crown had died, England were through to their second World Cup final.

Waiting for the Englishmen in the final were Australia, who had silenced Pakistan in front of their home crowd in Lahore and thereby had dashed the hopes of an India-Pakistan final. In front of a vociferously partisan Eden Gardens crowd, England, who had beaten India in the semis had to battle their common enemy as well as a capacity crowd. Batting first, Australia made 253, thanks mainly to David Boon's subdued 75 and a couple of well struck cameos from Allan Border (run-a-ball 31) and Mike Veletta (31-ball 45).

Despite losing Tim Robinson early, England was coasting along towards the target. Mike Gatting was playing another one of his celebrated knocks. Things looked good for the men from Old Blighty until the reverse sweep from their skipper. Australia sensed the kill, and despite the best efforts of Lamb and Philip DeFreitas, they fell short by a margin of seven runs.

Barring their opening match against West Indies, England's weakness was their inability to handle pressure situations. They let go of advantageous positions against Pakistan in both league matches. It didn't cost them much then, but came back to haunt them in the final. Man to man, they certainly were better than Border's Australia. But then, Australia had Steve Waugh, one man who relished performing under pressure. Sadly for England, they had none. There lay the difference between the champions and the runners-up.