The Cricket World Cup began in 1975 and the 1983 Cup, covered in this fine publication, saw eight teams compete, including, for the first time, Zimbabwe and another that did not have Test status at that stage, Sri Lanka. The book gives short bios of all the squad members of the eight teams and goes onto cover all of the matches, including Zimbabwe’s amazing victory over Australia, one of the greatest upsets in cricket history, and the Zimbabwe-India match, where Zimbabwe had the Indians in trouble at 5/19 before Kapil Dev and Shahid Mahboob (sadly my puerile mind still giggles at this name) knocked together a record partnership to wrest the game away from Zimbabwe.

The final, where India upset hot favourites Wet Indies, is also covered well and overall “Cricket World Cup ‘83” is a fine book to own. Sadly, my copy, bought straight after the World Cup, went missing many years ago and I’m guessing getting hold of another copy may be a challenge. If nothing else, it’s a good look at Zimbabwe when there was hope attached to their cricket rather than the current malaise. ( )