1992 cricket World Cup
 |
|
| Dates | 22 February – 25 March |
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | International Cricket Council |
| Cricket format | One Day International |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and Knockout |
| Host(s) |
Australia New Zealand |
| Champions |
 Pakistan (1st title) |
| Participants | 9 |
| Matches played | 39 |
| Player of the series |
 Martin Crowe
|
| Most runs |
Martin Crowe (456) |
| Most wickets |
Wasim Akram (18) |
The 1992 Cricket World Cup was the fifth staging of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in Australia and New Zealand from 22 February to 25 March 1992, and finished with Pakistan beating England in the final to become the World Cup champions for the first time.
The 1992 World Cup was the first to feature coloured player clothing, white cricket balls and black sightscreens with a number of matches being played under floodlights. The 1992 World Cup was also the first to be held in the Southern hemisphere. It was also the first World Cup to include the South Africa national cricket team, which had been allowed to re-join the International Cricket Council as a Test-playing nation after the end of apartheid.
The format was changed from previous tournaments in that a complete round-robin replaced the use of two qualifying groups. The initial draw was released with eight competing countries and 28 round-robin matches. In late 1991, South Africa were re-admitted to the International Cricket Council after long years of apartheid and the draw was amended to include them. The revised draw included 36 round-robin matches plus the two semi-finals and the final.
The rule for calculating the target score for the team batting second in rain-affected matches was also changed. The previous rule simply multiplied the run rate of the team batting first by the number of overs available to the team batting second. This rule was deemed to be too much in favour of the team batting second. In an attempt to rectify this, the target score would now be calculated by the "highest scoring overs" formula.
In this system, if the team batting second had 44 overs available, their target score would be one greater than the 44 highest scoring overs of the team batting first. While the reasoning behind the system was sound, the timing of rain interruptions remained problematic: as the semi-final between England and South Africa demonstrated, where a difficult but eminently reachable 22 runs off 13 balls was reduced to 22 off 7 (the least productive over, a maiden, being deducted) and finally 21 off 1 ball (the next least productive over having given 1 run). It was seen that, if the interruption came during the second innings, the side batting second was at a significant disadvantage – one which was only overcome once, in fact, in England's group-stage victory over South Africa.
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