West Indies at World cup cricket: Two-time champions haven’t made semi-finals since 1996

1996 World Cup; lost to Australia in the semi-final

Richardson was again in charge of the West Indian team that competed in the 1996 WC in the sub-continent. The Carribbeans were in Group A in this edition and they started their campaign with a 6-wicket win over Zimbabwe. They then lost to hosts India by 5 wickets and conceded a walk-over to Sri Lanka, the eventual champions, because of security reasons. The West Indies then were stunned by debutants Kenya who beat them by 73 runs and it was Richardson’s match-winning 93 not out against Australia in the final game of the group that saw the Windies making it to the quarter-finals.

The Caribbeans were a different lot in their quarter-final clash with South Africa, who had won all their games till then. Lara’s 111 in 94 balls helped the West Indies win the clash by 19 runs and they were in the semi-finals after 1983. The West Indies came the closest to their fourth World Cup final but snatched loss from the jaws of victory against Australia, losing the semi-final by just five runs. Chasing just 208, the West Indies were placed at 2 for 165 but the dismissal of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (80) saw them folding for just 202. Richardson remained stranded for 49 not out to witness one of the biggest heartbreaks of his career.

1999 World Cup; failed to proceed beyond group stage

Under the captaincy of Brian Lara, the Windies lost to Pakistan by 27 runs in the first group (B) game but beat debutants Bangladesh by 7 wickets. They then defeated New Zealand by 7 wickets and debutants Scotland by 8 wickets to brighten the chances to make the Super Six stage but a poor batting against Australia in the final game in which they were bowled out for 110 and lost by 6 wickets saw the Caribbeans losing to NZ in the net run rate by the skin of teeth (the difference was 0.08) to crash out of the fray.