Greatest World Cup matches

The ICC World Cup 2023 is just around the corner. As that happens, we look through some of the most thrilling World Cup matches between some of the top teams in the world. 

There is no doubt that the ICC Cricket World Cup has witnessed several thrilling matches over the years. 

While it is subjective to determine the "top" matches, here are 10 memorable matches from previous ODI World Cups.

10. New Zealand v South Africa, 2015
This was a rollercoaster of a semi-final in which the fortunes of both teams fluctuated back and forth, with the outcome in the balance right into the final over.

Chasing 298 in 43 overs after rain, New Zealand were struggling at 149-4 in the 22nd over, but as a raucous Eden Park crowd cheered every run, Grant Elliott and Corey Anderson hauled them back into contention.

With five needed from two balls, Elliott launched Dale Steyn into the Auckland night sky to send New Zealand into their first World Cup final.

9. Australia v West Indies, 1975
The first Cricket World Cup final was always going to go down in the annals – but West Indies and Australia produced a game that stands the test of time as one of the tournament's greatest.

Lord's was the stage and scorching midsummer weather meant the crowds were spilling out of the bleachers, young fans romping onto the outfield with every boundary struck.

And Clive Lloyd played a canonical captain's innings, hauling his side from 50 for three into the ascendancy thanks to a brutal century in a 149 fourth-wicket stand with Rohan Kanhai.

Despite a rousing run-chase, solidified by Ian Chappell's 62, Australia fell 17 runs short of a target of 291 – ousted by Viv Richards's excellence in the field, memorable executing three straight runouts.

8. India vs Pakistan, 2003 
No contest in sport compares to India and Pakistan. You can have your Old Firm derbies, your Borg and McEnroes, your Ali and Foremans, your South American kickabout/shoot 'em ups; but India and Pakistan go deeper than any of them. 

It was one of those electrifying moments when the worldwide audience comfortably topped a billion and the tournament felt like the centre of the world. Pakistan, who needed the win, went flying out of the traps, the magical wrists of Saeed Anwar cutting and slashing to another hundred. 

They posted 273, and with Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib in the bowling ranks it looked to be enough. But Sachin Tendulkar, with all of India on its knees in supplication, then played the purest one-day innings this writer has ever seen. His contest with Shoaib – full of fire, bite, and spite – was India and Pakistan in a microcosm, and Sachin was unstoppable, magisterial. 

Nothing became this contest like the leaving of it, and when Sachin was finally undone by a Shoaib snorter fended off in front of his jaw after a flurry of boundaries, he was gone for 98, from just 75 balls. The game was India's, comfortably. But the memories were all of Tendulkar.

7. Bangladesh vs India 2007
The match that really started it all for Bangladesh in white ball cricket and ushered in a generation of players that have gone on to become all-time greats in the country's cricketing annals. 

Having won the toss, India elected to bat first but only managed 191 as Mashrafe Mortaza starred with the ball taking 4-38.

But it was in the run chase where fifties from then-teenagers Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan took the Tigers to victory and helped them qualify for the second round for the first time in their history. 

6. England v Ireland, 2011
In the storied history of the Cricket World Cup, no single name has ever been so deeply intertwined with one fixture as Kevin O'Brien is with this particular thriller.

The first half of the game saw Goliath flex their muscles, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott firing England to 327 for eight from their 50 overs, a total no side had ever previously chased down.

Up stepped O'Brien, without a half-century in nine World Cup knocks, to bludgeon 13 fours and six sixes to upset the steepest odds.

It was the fastest century in Cricket World Cup history and an innings that may never be bettered for its sheer significance to the Irish cricketing story.

5. Pakistan v England, 1992
A first World Cup title for Pakistan as Wasim Akram - inspired by Imran Khan's instruction to fight like "cornered tigers" - ripped the heart out of England.

Half-centuries for Imran and Javed Miandad helped Pakistan post 249-6 in front of a full house at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

And although England recovered from a rocky start, Wasim produced inswinging yorkers in successive balls to remove Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis, and effectively ensure a third World Cup final defeat for England.

"When we got back to Lahore, a bus journey that would normally take 20 minutes took seven hours," said Wasim.

"The streets were packed and we just crawled along. It's something you dream of. I've never seen anything like that before and I don't think I ever will again."

4. West Indies v India, 1983
With holders West Indies in the opposing Lord's dressing room, few gave India hope in the 1983 World Cup final, especially when they were skittled out for 183.

Once again, however, it was captain Kapil Dev who proved the inspiration for a historic victory.

His stunning catch to dismiss a rampaging Sir Viv Richards provoked the first of many pitch invasions in a match that is often seen to have ignited India's obsession with the game.

"We all knew that Viv was such an arrogant player, that he wasn't going to hang around and would get after us," said Roger Binny, who finished as the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 18.

"But the ball went to the right person. Kapil Dev was such a brilliant fielder, he never looked like he was going to drop it. It was a dream come true. It took some time to sink in that we had beaten the West Indies. They were unbeatable at that time. We did it for the country."

3. Sri Lanka v Australia, 1996
Another final, and another huge upset as Sri Lanka beat Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, just 15 years after becoming a full member of the ICC and gaining Test status.

Aravinda de Silva was the hero for Sri Lanka with bat and ball, taking three wickets in Australia's below-par 241-7 before scoring a masterful unbeaten 107 to take his team home.

It was left to influential captain Arjuna Ranatunga, however, to hit the winning runs, steering Glenn McGrath to the third-man boundary to launch the celebrations.

"We got back to Sri Lanka the following morning and from the airport it was party time!" said Sri Lanka batsman Hashan Tillakaratne. "When we landed there was a big reception at the airport and then we were asked to go to the president's house.

"As we were travelling there, there were big crowds lining the streets to cheer us. It was an amazing feeling, awesome. And that was just the start. The receptions and parties went on for weeks."

2. South Africa vs Australia, 1999
Arguably the greatest one-dayer ever played. Contained everything, from knocked-down genius to knockabout farce. 

By turns thrilling, gut-churning, exhilarating or just plain cruel, if you weren't aghast at Shane Warne's Hollywood stagecraft, you were taking cover from axe-wielding Lance Klusener's plebeian brilliance, or you were laughing, or crying, or shouting, or simply counting the dozens of times you'd written off each side.

This was one of those games where you had no idea who would win until two-thirds through the penultimate ball, when the shock of seeing two greenhorns in Klusener and last-man Allan Donald at the same end, with the ball being rolled along the floor to the stumps at the other, gave way to wild celebrations among the herding pack of yellow-shirts. 

And in that moment, we realised with dark foreboding that this Australian team will never do the decent thing and accept defeat. It has been a familiar story for these golden boys ever since – if the piercing light of unquenching self-belief gleams from these moments when a team wins the unwinnable, then this grey afternoon in Birmingham was Australia's epiphany. It was a sudden leap towards the aura of invincibility we see today.

1. England vs New Zealand, 2019
The most recent final of the competition will go down as the most controversial and at the same time the most competitive final in the history of the sport.

England were expected to pull off a comfortable chase, but that wasn't what followed. At one stage, the England innings was dangling at 86-4, and it was left to Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler to do the repair work.

A Ben Stokes catch was taken with the fielder, Trent Boult, touching the boundary ropes. The England batsman, who had been at the crease for nearly 30 overs, was showing tangible levels of fatigue as well.

Kane Williamson threw the ball to his best bowler Boult for the final over, with England needing 15 runs to win. Boult started brilliantly with two dots, but Stokes hit the 3rd ball for a 6.

The 4th ball was awarded as six runs after Martin Guptill's throw deflected off Stokes' bat and rolled away to the boundary. The last two balls saw Stokes scampering for the 2nd run to retain strike, resulting in two run-outs at the opposite end.

The scores read 241 for both teams, taking the game to a Super Over.

Stokes and Buttler were back for the Super Over and scored 15 runs. Jimmy Neesham reduced the equation to two runs off one ball for Martin Guptill in Jofra Archer's Super Over.

However, this was Guptill's first ball of the Super Over, and he could only manage to get a single before getting run-out during his desperate attempt for the second run. Again, the scores read 15 for both teams.

England were awarded the win based on the highest boundary rule, which was duly criticized by a considerable amount of people who felt New Zealand were robbed. Umpire Simon Taufel also later pointed out that awarding six runs for the overthrow in the last over was a mistake.

It was a controversial but highly competitive ICC Cricket World Cup Final - and unarguably, the best ever.