The one-day format was unchanged from the eight-team 1983 event except for a reduction in the number of overs a team played from 60 to 50, the current standard for all ODIs.

The competition was won, for the first time, by Australia who defeated their arch-rivals England by seven runs in the second-most closely fought World Cup final to date in Kolkata's Eden Gardens stadium.

Australia were looking to reach 300 with strong batting before Imran Khan took 3 wickets for 17 runs in 5 overs.

Before Azharuddin was removed lbw by Eddie Hemmings, India were at 5/204, needing 50 runs from the last 10 overs, with 5 wickets in hand, and it looked like it would be a very close game.

Bill Athey (58 from 103 balls, 2 fours) top-scored, and England were almost on target, when captain Mike Gatting (41 from 45 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) handed back the initiative with the loss of his wicket, going for a reverse sweep which ended a growing partnership of 69 runs in 13 overs between him and Athey.

Allan Lamb (45 from 55 balls, 4 fours) also posted a great innings, but it was in vain as the required run-rate for England began to rise.