1992 Cricket World Cup Final

England and Pakistan played each other in the league round, but Pakistan were lucky to escape with a draw even though Pakistan were dismissed for 74. In the final, winning the toss, Pakistan elected to bat with Ijaz Ahmed coming in as the only change from their semi final against New Zealand, while England too had one change with Derek Pringle replacing Gladstone Small. Pakistan openers Rameez Raja and Aamer Sohail struggled against Pringle and Chris Lewis, as both were dismissed cheaply. Imran Khan promoted himself and played the sheet anchor role along with Javed Miandad, pushing the scorecard. Imran was lucky to get a reprieve as Graham Gooch dropped a difficult chance. Derek Pringle bowled 4 no balls and 1 wide in his first spell, that read 8-2-13-2. Imran Khan and Javed Miandad struggled to score free runs and Pakistan touched the 100 mark only in the 31st over. Finally England broke the 139 partnership as Javed Miandad was dismissed by Richard Illingworth for 58. Soon Imran Khan was dismissed by Ian Botham for 72, as Wasim Akram joined Inzamam-ul-Haq. The pair added 52 runs from 38 balls as Pakistan scored 124 runs from their final 15 overs as the total score read 249/5 in the stipulated 50 overs, a gettable total for England's much fancied batting side. Derek Pringle had a dream spell of 10-2-22-3, but gave away 8 extra runs in the form of 5 no balls and 3 wides, while Richard Illingworth and Ian Botham claimed one wicket each, it became the 16th victim of the latter.

Chasing the target of 250 to win their maiden world cup, favourites England lost all rounder Ian Botham for no score to Wasim Akram. Alec Stewart soon fell to Aaquib Javed reeling England at 21/2. In form batsman Greame Hick and Graham Gooch slowly pushed the score, but Hick was dismissed by a beauty from Mushtaq Ahmed, a Googly that Hick failed to read. Soon Gooch fell to Mushtaq and England were in deep trouble with scorecard reading 69/4. Neil Fairbrother and Allan Lamb tried a rescue act with a partnership of 72 runs as asking rate began to pile up. Coming back for the second spell, Wasim Akram broke England's resistance by dismissing Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis with successive deliveries reeling English at 141/6. Neil Fairbrother and Dermot Reeve could not score big, as part-time bowler Aamir Sohail completed his quota of 10 overs as England failed to utilize Sohail's spell. With the final 10 overs to go, England needed 84 runs from 54 balls with an asking rate of 9.33 per over. Soon Fairbrother was dismissed for 62 scored off 70 balls by Aaquib sealing the fate of England. As 34 runs required from final 12 balls, it was a tough task for them as Imran Khan dismissed Richard Illingworth, that turned out to be his last ball in International cricket. For Pakistan, Aaquib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed claimed 2 and 3 wickets respectively. Wasim Akram was adjudged the Man of the match for his all round performance of 3/49 and 33 off 18.[3]

25 March 1992 scorecard

Pakistan  249/6 (50 overs)	v	England 227 (49.2 overs)
Imran Khan 72 (110 balls) Derek Pringle 3/22 (10 overs)		Neil Fairbrother 62 (70 balls) Mushtaq Ahmed 3/41 (10 overs)

Pakistan won by 22 runs Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia Attendance : 87,182 Umpires: Brian Aldridge and Steve Bucknor Player of the match: Wasim Akram

Pakistan batting
Player	Status	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Strike rate
Aamer Sohail	c Alec Stewart b Derek Pringle	4	19	0	0	21.05
Rameez Raja	lbw Derek Pringle	8	26	1	0	30.76
Imran Khan*	c Illingworth b Ian Botham	72	110	5	1	65.45
Javed Miandad	c Botham b Illingworth	58	98	4	0	59.18
Inzamam-Ul-Haq	b Pringle	42	35	4	0	120.00
Wasim Akram	run out	33	18	4	0	183.33
Saleem Malik	not out	0	1	0	0	0.00
Ijaz Ahmed	Did not bat	0	0	0	0	0.00
Moin Khan	Did not bat	0	0	0	0	0.00
Mushtaq Ahmed	Did not bat	0	0	0	0	0.00
Aaqib Javed	Did not bat	0	0	0	0	0.00
Extras	(lb 19, nb 7, w 6)	32
Total	(6 wickets; 50 overs)	249

Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Aamer Sohail, 4.6 ov), 2-24 (Ramiz Raja, 8.2 ov), 3-163 (Javed Miandad, 39.3 ov), 4-197 (Imran Khan, 43.3 ov), 5-249 (Inzamam-ul-Haq, 49.5 ov), 6-249 (Wasim Akram, 49.6 ov)

England batting
Player	Status	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Strike rate
Graham Gooch*	Aaqib Javed b Mushtaq Ahmed	29	66	1	0	43.93
Ian Botham	c Moin Khan b Wasim Akram	0	6	0	0	0.00
Alec Stewart	c Moin Khan b Aaqib Javed	7	16	1	0	43.75
Graeme Hick	b Mushtaq Ahmed	17	36	1	0	47.22
Neil Fairbrother	c Moin Khan b Aaqib Javed	62	70	3	0	88.57
Allan Lamb	b Wasim Akram	31	41	2	0	75.60
Chris Lewis	b Wasim Akram	0	1	0	0	00.00
Dermot Reeve	c Rameez Raja b Mushtaq Ahmed	15	32	0	0	46.87
Derek Pringle	not out	18	16	1	0	112.50
Phil DeFreitas	run out	10	8	0	0	125.00
Richard Illingworth	c Rameez Raja b Imran Khan	14	10	2	0	140.00
Extras	(lb 5, nb 6, w 13)	24
Total	(all out in 49.2 overs)	227

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Ian Botham, 2.5 ov), 2-21 (Alec Stewart, 7.3 ov), 3-59 (Graeme Hick, 18.6 ov), 4-69 (Graham Gooch, 20.5 ov), 5-141 (Allan Lamb, 34.5 ov), 6-141 (Chris Lewis, 34.6 ov), 7-180 (Neil Fairbrother, 42.5 ov), 8-183 (Dermot Reeve, 43.6 ov), 9-208 (Phil DeFreitas, 47.1 ov), 10-227 (Richard Illingworth, 49.2 ov)

• 1992 Cricket World Cup squads

• ICC. Retrieved 2019-04-08

• Cricket World Cup 1992 from Cricinfo
• 1992 Cricket World Cup