Five great World Cup upsets

19 Mar, 2007

Ireland's three-wicket win over Pakistan in the World Cup on Saturday was the biggest shock of the tournament so far and takes its place among the greatest surprises in the history of the competition. Here are five upsets from previous editions:
1979: Sri Lanka beat India in Manchester. Still a non-test playing nation, Sri Lanka, entered the competition via the ICC Trophy, and pulled off a major surprise in Group B with a 47-run victory at Old Trafford, Manchester over an Indian side featuring Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar.
1983: Zimbabwe beat Australia at Nottingham. In their first World Cup match, the tournament minnows produced a 13-run victory at Trent Bridge. Duncan Fletcher was the architect with bat and ball - scoring 69 not out and taking four for 42.
1996: Kenya beat West Indies at Poona. West Indies had won the opening two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 and Kenya were making their World Cup debut. But the form book was forgotten as the Africans set a total of 166 but then bowled out the Caribbean side for 93.
1996: Sri Lanka win World Cup in Lahore. It was a big enough surprise for Sri Lanka to make it to the final but a huge one when they defeated Australia to win the competition. Aravinda de Silva scored 107 not out and took three wickets as Sri Lanka knocked off the Aussies' total of 241.
1999: Bangladesh beat Pakistan at Northampton. There was nothing to play for in this final group game but Bangladesh picked up their first ever win against a test-playing nation, scoring 223 before bowling out Pakistan for 161.

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