Despite Australia's failure to reach the final, a record World Cup final crowd of more than 85,000 greeted Pakistan and England at the MCG.
After a poor start during which Derek Pringle's suffocating military medium pace claimed both openers, Pakistan soon found their way, with captain Imran Khan to the fore.
Imran and Javed Miandad shared a third-wicket partnership of 139 that set Pakistan back on the right track.
And their innings finished with a flourish when Inzamam-ul-Haq scored 42 off 35 balls with Wasim Akram chipping in with a quickfire 33 off only 19.
And Wasim was soon in the action with the ball, dismissing Ian Botham for a duck in the first over of England's innings.
The left-armer's next wickets settled the match. When he clean bowled Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in consecutive balls, England were 141 for six with the run-rate climbing.
Despite the best efforts of Neil Fairbrother and the tail, England never recovered - much to the delight of the majority of the Melbourne crowd.
The first World Cup final to be played outside of England was also the closest.
Australia won the toss, elected to bat and made a fast start that ultimately proved the difference at the end of the match.
Phil DeFreitas and Gladstone Small were wayward with the ball while David Boon took full advantage with the bat, top scoring with 75.
And late in the innings, Allan Border and Mike Veletta kept the scoreboard ticking over to set an imposing 254 for victory.
Tim Robinson fell in the first over of England's reply, but soon they looked to be taking control of the match, Graham Gooch, Bill Athey, Mike Gatting and Allan Lamb all making solid contributions.
But the match turned when the captains came head-to-head, Border bringing himself on to bowl and Gatting reverse-sweeping the first ball straight to Greg Dyer behind the stumps.
From that point on, England slipped further and further behind the run-rate despite the best efforts of the tail, and nine runs off the final over left them seven short of victory.
The third World Cup, the last to be sponsored by the Prudential Assurance Company, began with two fine surprises, when India beat West Indies and Zimbabwe beat Australia in the opening round of matches, and ended with the greatest surprise of all, when India beat West Indies again, this time in the final at Lords. None of the eight sides had to make do without a victory.
The second World Cup, officially called The Prudential Cup, proved, like the first in 1975, a great success, and again West Indies carried off the title. Unlike four years earlier, it was not blessed throughout with blissful sunshine during the fortnight it was in progress
West Indies won the inaugural Word Cup defeating Australia by 17 runs at the historic Lords cricket ground.Put into bat, West Indies piled up a mammoth 291 for eight off its allotted 60 overs. Skipper Clive Lloyd led from the front scoring a fine century (102) and was ably supported by Rohan Kanhai who notched a handy 55. Left-arm seamer Gary Gilmour was the pick of the Aussie bowlers picking up a haul of 5 for 48.
Chasing 292 for victory, Australia did get off to a good start with opener Alan Turner scoring a solid 40. Once he fell, wickets tumbled at regular intervals. Barring skipper Ian Chappell who authored a fine 62, rest of the batters came a cropper. Keith Boyce was the wrecker-in chief for the Windies, snaffling 4 for 50. Clive Lloyd was named Man of the Match.
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 is a Twenty20 cricket tournament scheduled to take place in England in June of 2009. It will be the second World Twenty20 and will consist of 12 teams, contested by all Test-playing nations plus qualifiers (Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland)
The Champions Twenty20 League, formed with the official sanction of ICC will kick off in October 2008. Eight domestic teams from four nations will participate. Cricket Australia will partner the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA). The champion team in the Champions Twenty20 league will get US $5 million, which is the highest ever prize money for a cricket event.
