Unlike in previous Cricket World Cups, the group stages were played in a double round robin format.

The fifth round of matches on 18 June saw England seal their place in the semi-final, with a first wicket partnership of 115 between Graeme Fowler and Chris Tavaré alone scoring nearly half of Pakistan's 232.

Meanwhile, New Zealand failed to secure passage to the knockout stage, losing to Sri Lanka in a low scoring affair.

Group B started with the first shock of the tournament, as Zimbabwe beat Australia in what Wisden described as "a bigger surprise than any in the previous two world cups".

In the other opening Group B match, India delivered another "shocker" as they beat the holders West Indies by 34 runs, bowling them out for 228 with 35 balls to spare – the first defeat suffered by the West Indies in a World Cup as they had dominated both the 1975 and` 1979 tournaments without losing a single match in either tournament.

Two days later, Australia defeated India by 162 runs, with man of the match Trevor Chappell scoring 110 off 131 balls and Ken MacLeay taking 6/39.

The other match that day was also a one-sided affair, as West Indies restricted Zimbabwe to just 217/7 in their 60 overs, despite Duncan Fletcher scoring another unbeaten half century, and then romped home with a partnership of 195 for the third wicket between Gordon Greenidge and Larry Gomes.

However, after India had made 247 all out, in a team effort where the highest score was 40 and there were 37 extras, Australia collapsed to 129 all out, with Madan Lal and Roger Binny taking four wickets each.

The English batsmen mistimed many balls and used the bat's edge frequently, as the restrictive Indian bowling led England to score 213 (all out, 60 overs).

Graeme Fowler (33 from 59 balls, 3 fours) top scored, and Kapil Dev took 3 for 35 in eleven overs, with Mohinder Amarnath and Roger Binny taking two wickets each.

Mohinder Amarnath (46 from 92 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) picked up the man-of-the-match award for his all round performance, which saw him add 46 runs to his earlier bowling success (2/27 in 12 overs).

Mohsin Khan (70 from 176 balls, 1 four) fought his way past 50 against the formidable West Indies bowling attack (he was the only Pakistani batsman to reach 50).

Sandeep Patil and Madan Lal saved the game to get the team past the 150-run mark at a critical point in the match where India scored 183 runs.