OTD| Australia won the first of their 5 ODI World Cup titles in 1987

On this day in 1987, Australia became the World Champions for the very first time by defeating their arch-rivals England in the summit clash at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Australia defeated Pakistan in the semi-final whereas England overcame the Indian challenge in the second semi-final to claim their place in the finals. 

Challenging target on the board from Australia

The legendary Australian captain Allan Border won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers David Boon and Geoff Marsh gave a solid start to Australia as they added 75 runs for the opening partnership. Neil Foster gave the breakthrough to Australia by dismissing Geoff Marsh. David Boon and Dean Jones progressed the Australian innings and did not let it disintegrate after the initial blow. David Boon scored 75 runs which had a huge role to play in guiding Australia to a competitive total. Allan Border and Mike Veletta played crucial knocks that let Australia cross the 250-run mark. 

Topsy Turvy chase from England

England had a big challenge to overcome as chasing 254 runs in a final was a humongous task. The English team could not get off to a good start as opener Tim Robinson was dismissed for a duck by Craig McDermott. After this initial blow, Graham Gooch and Bill Athey stabilized the English chase by stitching a 65-run partnership. Simon O’Donnell broke the partnership as he sent Graham Gooch back when he caught him right in front of the stumps. 

Mike Gatting and Allan Lamb went on with the chase after Bill Athey was dismissed but one shot from Mike Gatting chased the whole complexion of the match. Getting tried to reverse sweep a delivery from Allan Border and lost his wicket. His wicket was very crucial as he was the skipper and his stay on the crease could have guided England to a victory. Ultimately England fell agonizingly short by 7 runs which saw Australia lifting the World Cup for the very first time. The Aussies went on to add four more ODI World Cups to their cabinet but the first one would always remain immortal in the collective conscience of Australian cricket and its history. 

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