The inaugural World Cup of cricket got under way on June 7, 1975, with one match at Edgbaston, one at Headingley, one at Old Trafford and one at Lord's where the hosts, England, took on India.

After winning the toss and batting first in the 60-over affair, England raced to 334 for four, and with India inching their way to 132 for three off their 60 overs, the home team eased to victory by 202 runs.

The match, played in brilliant sunshine and on a perfect pitch for batting, saw Dennis Amiss, England's opening batsman, playing one of the most scintillating innings in the history of the Cup, and Sunil Gavaskar, India's opening batsman and one of the best ever, dropping anchor and batting for all 60 overs in the slowest and most boring innings in the history of the Cup.

centuries

In scoring one of the two centuries on opening day - the other being 171 not out by Glenn Turner of New Zealand versus East Africa at Edgbaston, Amiss scored 137, he stroked 18 boundaries off 147 deliveries, and was simply magnificent against the pace dominated attack of India who, although they played off-spinner Srini Venkataraghavan, surprisingly left out their great left-arm spin bowler, Bishen Singh Bedi.

Venkat conceded 41 runs off his 12 overs. In comparison to that, Madan Lal conceded 64 off his 12, Mohinder Armanath 60 off his 12, Abid Ali 58 off his 12, and left-arm pacer Karson Ghavri was smashed for 83 off his 12.

After losing their first wicket at 54, England, thanks to Amiss and Keith Fletcher, 68, jumped to 230 before losing their second wicket and ended up with fast bowler Chris Old, promoted to number six in an attempt to get some quick runs, blasting 51 not out in 35 minutes off 28 deliveries.

After losing Eknath Solkar for eight at 21 for one, India, led by Gavaskar and much to the annoyance of the fans, never even attempted to go for the runs, and were booed and jeered throughout their innings by a near full house at headquarters - including by one angry fan who threw his lunch at Gavaskar's feet.

With pacers John Snow bowling his 12 overs for 24 runs, Geoff Arnold 10 for 20, Old his 12 for 26, Tony Greig his 12 for 26, and with Barry Wood conceding a mere four runs off five overs, Gavaskar, who took first strike, scored 36 not out off 174 deliveries and scored one solitary boundary.

According to the man called 'Sunny', the man who ended his Test career with 10,122 runs and 34 centuries with a top score of 236 not out and his one-day career with 3,092 runs and one century with a top score of 103 not out, he simply felt, from the time he went to bat, that India had no chance of winning the match - of scoring over five-and-half runs an over for 60 overs.

- Tony Becca