India vs Pakistan
8 June 1999
Sachin Tendulkar was given out caught behind in the high-stakes India-Pakistan World Cup match despite replays suggesting the ball brushed his pad, not bat.
Australia vs South Africa
17 June 1999
Allan Donald was run out in the most dramatic fashion in the 1999 World Cup semi-final, but South Africa argued the initial call by the square leg umpire was premature.
Sri Lanka vs England
23 January 1999
Umpire Ross Emerson called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing. Captain Arjuna Ranatunga nearly led his team off the field in protest.
Australia vs West Indies
1999-06-17
Glenn McGrath's obsessive determination to claim Brian Lara's wicket in the 1999 World Cup semi-final — and his famous statement that he would get Lara for a duck — defined a great rivalry between cricket's supreme fast bowler and its most gifted batsman.
Pakistan vs Various
1 June 1999
Leaked audio cassettes containing conversations between Pakistani players and bookmakers provided crucial evidence for the Qayyum Commission and proved fixing in Pakistani cricket.
India vs South Africa
1999-06-05
Herschelle Gibbs dropped a catch off Sachin Tendulkar after celebrating prematurely, reportedly prompting Tendulkar to tell him 'You've just dropped the World Cup, mate.'
West Indies vs Australia
1999-03-29
Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams were involved in one of cricket's most comically bad run-out mix-ups, with both batsmen ending up at the same end while the fielders watched in amusement.
Australia vs South Africa
17 June 1999
South Africa's Lance Klusener hit two fours off successive balls to bring the scores level, but a catastrophic run out of Allan Donald off the last ball sent Australia through on net run rate in one of cricket's greatest ever finishes.
Australia vs South Africa
1999-06-17
Lance Klusener smashed Australia to the brink of elimination, then ran out Allan Donald off the penultimate ball to tie the match — but Australia advanced to the final on superior run rate, ending South Africa's greatest World Cup campaign in devastating fashion.
India vs Pakistan
1999-02-07
Anil Kumble became only the second bowler in Test history to take all 10 wickets in a single innings, finishing with 10/74 as Pakistan were bowled out for 207 — a performance that, like Laker's, required near-perfect conditions and one man to be utterly unplayable.
South Africa vs various
1999-06-01
Lance Klusener was named Player of the Tournament at the 1999 World Cup after scoring 281 runs at an average of 140.50 and a strike rate of 122, taking 17 wickets — the most dominant all-round tournament performance in World Cup history — for a team that did not win the title.
India vs Australia
22 April 1998
In the first of the two Sharjah finals, Sachin Tendulkar was given out LBW to a ball that appeared to be heading down leg. The decision denied fans a potentially historic innings.
India vs Australia
6-10 March 1998
Michael Slater claimed a low catch to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar, but replays suggested the ball had bounced before reaching his hands. The on-field decision was out.
India vs Australia
1998-02-28
Shane Warne's admission that Sachin Tendulkar occupied his thoughts 'even in his dreams' before the 1998 India series epitomised one of cricket's great personal duels — a rivalry that Tendulkar spectacularly resolved by mastering Warne through meticulous preparation.
Various
1 January 1998
Sharjah cricket, which hosted numerous ODI tournaments from 1985 to 2003, became widely associated with match fixing, with allegations of underworld figures including Dawood Ibrahim influencing results.
India vs Australia
1998-04-22
In the space of three days, Sachin Tendulkar hit two centuries against Australia in Sharjah — one in a qualifying match against a desert sandstorm, one in the final — comprehensively destroying Shane Warne's aura and cementing his status as the world's greatest batsman.
India vs Australia
1998-01-24
The 1998 India-Australia Test series produced the greatest sustained individual duel in cricket history — Sachin Tendulkar vs Shane Warne — with Tendulkar making 446 runs in the three-Test series, including 155 not out and 177, dominating the world's greatest bowler on his home grounds.
India vs Pakistan
15 September 1997
Inzamam-ul-Haq climbed into the crowd with a bat to confront a spectator who had been abusing him during the Sahara Cup match in Toronto.
England vs Australia
1997-06-05
Glenn McGrath's 8/38 at Edgbaston in 1997 — the finest bowling performance of the Ashes series — included the repeated dismissal of Michael Atherton through metronomic accuracy outside off stump that reduced England's best batsman to helplessness.
India vs Various
1 May 1997
Former Indian all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar alleged widespread fixing in Indian cricket and claimed Kapil Dev had offered him money to underperform, triggering a major investigation.
India vs Pakistan
1997-09-14
Inzamam-ul-Haq stormed into the crowd with his bat after being heckled by a spectator in Toronto.
England vs Various
1997-01-01
Phil 'The Cat' Tufnell was so bad at fielding that his nickname was ironic — he earned it for his ability to sleep anywhere, not for his agility.
India (internal)
1 January 1997
Sachin Tendulkar's brief and unhappy stint as India captain in the late 1990s, replacing Azharuddin, was marked by poor results, factional politics, and the eventual return of captaincy to Azharuddin.
India vs Pakistan
15 October 1997
Inzamam-ul-Haq charged into the crowd with a bat after being persistently taunted by an Indian spectator with a megaphone during a Sahara Cup match in Toronto.
ICC vs Rain
1997-01-01
The Duckworth-Lewis method's 1997 introduction replaced cricket's previous 'most productive overs' formula — which had produced absurd results including setting teams targets they couldn't possibly lose — and became one of sports statistics' most debated innovations.
India vs Sri Lanka
13 March 1996
The 1996 World Cup semi-final at Eden Gardens was effectively decided by the match referee after the crowd rioted when India collapsed in the chase.
India vs West Indies
1996-03-09
Curtly Ambrose's short-pitched assault on Sachin Tendulkar during the 1996 World Cup quarter-final — targeting the world's best batsman with rising deliveries at his throat — produced a masterclass of fast bowling pressure that Tendulkar resisted before eventually being dismissed.
India vs Sri Lanka
13 March 1996
The 1996 World Cup semi-final at Eden Gardens was abandoned after Indian fans rioted, hurling bottles and setting fires when India's batting collapsed against Sri Lanka's spinners.
Sri Lanka vs Various
1 January 1996
Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action was questioned repeatedly over a decade, leading to fundamental changes in cricket's throwing laws and biomechanical testing protocols.
Sri Lanka vs Australia
1996-03-17
Aravinda de Silva made 107 not out in the World Cup final — and also took 3 wickets with the ball — to lead Sri Lanka to their first World Cup title in a comprehensive 7-wicket victory over favourites Australia.
Australia vs Sri Lanka
26 December 1995
Umpire Darrell Hair no-balled Muttiah Muralitharan seven times for a suspect bowling action during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, sparking a massive controversy.
West Indies vs Australia
28 April 1995
Curtly Ambrose got in Steve Waugh's face after being told to go back to his mark. Richie Richardson had to pull Ambrose away. Ambrose then bowled a devastating spell.
Australia vs Sri Lanka
26 December 1995
Umpire Darrell Hair called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing seven times during the Boxing Day Test, igniting one of cricket's longest-running controversies.
West Indies vs Australia
21 April 1995
Curtly Ambrose got face-to-face with Steve Waugh during the 1995 Trinidad Test after Waugh told him to 'get back to the f***ing crease.' Ambrose had to be physically restrained by WI captain Richie Richardson. Ambrose channelled his fury into taking 7/25 — one of the greatest hostile fast-bowling spells in Test history.
Australia vs Various
9 December 1998
Australian stars Shane Warne and Mark Waugh admitted to accepting money from an Indian bookmaker known as 'John' in exchange for pitch and weather information during the 1994 tour to Sri Lanka.
Australia vs Sri Lanka
26 December 1995
Australian umpire Darrell Hair no-balled Muttiah Muralitharan seven times for throwing during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, igniting one of cricket's longest-running controversies.
West Indies vs India
November 1994
Through the early-to-mid 1990s, before neutral umpires became mandatory, home umpires in India consistently turned down LBW appeals against Indian batsmen. Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were repeatedly denied. The era became a key argument for neutral umpires.
India vs West Indies
October 1994
Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were repeatedly denied plumb LBW appeals by Indian home umpires throughout West Indies' 1994 tour of India. The era of home umpire bias was at its height before neutral umpires became mandatory in 2002.
South Africa vs Australia
March 1994
Shane Warne dismissed Daryll Cullinan 8 times in 9 Test innings over several years, breaking the South African batsman's confidence so completely that Cullinan reportedly sought professional psychological help. Their exchanges — including Warne announcing which ball he was about to bowl and still getting Cullinan out — became cricket's most famous case of mental disintegration.
West Indies vs England
1994-02-25
Curtly Ambrose's devastating 6/24 in 10 overs at Port-of-Spain 1994 — including dismissing Graham Gooch, the backbone of England's batting — produced one of the great fast bowling spells that left England all out for 46, their lowest total in modern times.
England vs South Africa
1994-08-18
After being struck on the helmet by Fanie de Villiers, Devon Malcolm told South Africa 'You guys are history' — then backed it up by taking 9/57 in one of cricket's greatest bowling performances fuelled by pure personal fury.
India vs West Indies
1994-11-05
Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose's sustained pace assault on the young Sachin Tendulkar in the 1994 series — targeting him with bouncers and lifting deliveries from perfect lengths — tested Tendulkar at a formative stage of his career with one of history's great pace combinations.
England vs South Africa
23 July 1994
England captain Mike Atherton was caught on camera applying dirt from his pocket to the ball during the Lord's Test against South Africa, leading to a fine and a crisis of confidence.
ICC vs Fast Bowling Ethics
1994-01-01
The 1994 ICC rule limiting short-pitched bowling — defining persistent intimidatory use as unfair play and giving umpires power to warn and remove bowlers — responded to the West Indian four-pace-attack era that had made batting genuinely dangerous throughout the 1980s.
England vs South Africa
1994-08-20
After being hit on the helmet by Fanie de Villiers, Devon Malcolm told South Africa 'You guys are history.' He then took 9/57 — the best bowling figures by an England fast bowler in Test history — to bowl South Africa out for 175.
West Indies vs England
1994-04-01
Curtly Ambrose produced one of cricket's most sustained bowling spells — taking 7 English wickets for just 1 run in 32 balls, reducing England from 40/1 to 46 all out as he became virtually unplayable on a lively Queen's Park Oval pitch.
England vs Australia
4 June 1993
While not a controversial decision itself, Mike Gatting's utter disbelief at being bowled by Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket highlighted how umpires and batsmen alike were unprepared for extreme spin.
West Indies vs England
18 November 1993
Curtly Ambrose refused to remove his white wristbands when asked by the umpire, leading to a standoff that required captain Richie Richardson's intervention.
West Indies vs Pakistan
1993-04-16
Waqar Younis's relentless inswinging yorker campaign against Brian Lara during Pakistan's 1993 West Indies tour — targeting the left-hander's front foot with full-pitched deliveries that swung late — produced one of cricket's most technically demanding bowler-batsman duels.
Australia vs Various
1993-01-01
Merv Hughes, the moustachioed Australian fast bowler, was famous for his creative and hilarious sledging that often left batsmen and teammates in stitches.
England vs Australia
1993-06-04
Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket spun so viciously from outside leg stump to hit off stump that Mike Gatting's bewildered expression became one of cricket's most iconic images.
England vs Australia
1993-06-04
Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket pitched outside leg stump and spun 18 inches to hit the top of Mike Gatting's off stump — the most famous single delivery in cricket history, announcing to the world that leg-spin was not dead.
England vs South Africa
22 March 1992
A farcical rain rule calculation left South Africa needing 22 runs off 1 ball in the World Cup semi-final, robbing them of a realistic chance of reaching the final.
England vs Pakistan
July 1992
Waqar Younis's brutal reverse-swing yorker campaign against English batsmen in the 1992 series — particularly Graeme Hick — was one of cricket's most devastating bowling attacks. Hick was repeatedly bowled or LBW as Waqar's late-swinging yorkers crashed into the stumps and toes, leaving England batsmen baffled and bruised.
England vs Pakistan
1992-08-06
Wasim Akram's decade-long pursuit of Michael Atherton's wicket through devastating reverse swing and inswing produced one of cricket's most compelling ongoing rivalries — England's most determined opener against the greatest left-arm fast bowler of all time.
England vs Pakistan
1992-06-18
Wasim Akram's reverse-swinging deliveries at Lord's in 1992 — dismissing Graham Gooch with a delivery that moved late and sharply to hit the top of off stump — epitomised Pakistan's mastery of a bowling art that England could neither replicate nor counter.
England vs Pakistan
1992-06-04
Waqar Younis repeatedly targeted Alec Stewart's front foot with devastating inswinging yorkers throughout the 1990s, making Stewart's dismissal — bowled or LBW — a recurring pattern that defined both men's careers as a study in attacking strategy against a technically orthodox batsman.
Pakistan vs India
1992-03-04
Javed Miandad mocked Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More's jumping celebrations by doing exaggerated frog-like jumps at the crease, creating one of cricket's most iconic comedy moments.
South Africa vs Pakistan
1992-03-01
Jonty Rhodes launched himself horizontally through the air, gathered the ball one-handed, and broke the stumps in a single motion to run out Inzamam-ul-Haq — a fielding moment that changed how the game thought about athleticism in the field.
Pakistan vs England
1992-03-25
With England seemingly in control of the 1992 World Cup Final chase, Wasim Akram dismissed Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis with consecutive balls using devastating reverse swing — the two wickets that sealed Pakistan's first and only World Cup title.
New Zealand vs various
1992-02-22
Martin Crowe made 188 runs across New Zealand's 1992 World Cup campaign and 91 in their semi-final vs Pakistan — the tournament's leading scorer — alongside captaining a side that pioneered pinch-hitting and spin bowling tactics later adopted by the entire cricket world.
Pakistan vs various
1992-03-04
Imran Khan's Pakistan were on the verge of elimination in the 1992 World Cup — five losses in seven games. His 'Fight like cornered tigers' speech transformed the campaign. Pakistan won their next five matches, including the final, to lift their only World Cup trophy.
Pakistan vs various
1992-03-01
Pakistan entered the 1992 World Cup with a rain-affected, points-based format that threatened to eliminate them even before the knockouts. They won five consecutive matches including the final to lift their only World Cup — in Imran Khan's farewell tournament.
Pakistan vs various
1992-01-01
Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis developed reverse swing — the technique of making an old cricket ball swing away from the seam rather than toward it — into a weapon so potent it won Pakistan a World Cup final and changed the Laws of cricket twice.
Australia vs Various
28 December 1991
Merv Hughes was legendary for his creative and often hilarious sledging, engaging in memorable verbal battles with Javed Miandad, Viv Richards, and many others.
Australia vs Pakistan
1991-01-01
The long-running verbal feud between Merv Hughes and Javed Miandad across multiple series produced cricket's most celebrated sledging exchanges, including the famous 'bus driver' insult and Miandad's mocking celebration when Hughes was dismissed.
England vs Australia
1990-08-09
Merv Hughes's relentless verbal and physical campaign against Graham Gooch during the 1990 Ashes — in which Gooch was in magnificent form scoring 456 runs including 333 — illustrated the limits of intimidation against a batsman of exceptional concentration and technique.