Our first match in the World Cup was dominated by Dennis Amiss.

He was a compact opener and slammed a big hundred before I got him.

He was my lone victim in that match. Keith Fletcher and Chris Old made some handsome contributions and England set us a target of 335.

Among the bowlers, our captain, S Venkataraghavan, bowled the best.

Our response was forgettable. Sunil Gavaskar got stuck in the middle. I don't know what happened to him that day. He returned unbeaten on 36.

Our next match was against East Africa. It was a poor opposition and we won by 10 wickets. Three wickets came my way, Abid Ali got two but the most outstanding stuff came from Bedi. His analysis read 12-8-6-1. Our World Cup ended at Old Trafford when we lost to New Zealand by four wickets. It was our third match in seven days. Thanks to Abid Ali, we could present New Zealand a competitive target of 231.

Abid hit a rapidfire 70 but we failed to defend the total against some some superb batting by Glenn Turner, who hit a century and a single-handedly dashed our hopes. Our inexperience in limited overs cricket was quite evident as New Zealand achieved the task with seven balls to spare.

The team left for India soon after the match against New Zealand but some of us stayed back. I had a contract to play in the Huddersfield League and it gave me the opportunity to see some of the matches on television.

In one of the finest matches I have seen the West Indies overcame Pakistan amidst incredible tension. That match at Edgbaston was a cliffhanger with Deryck Murray pulling off a sensational win for the West Indies. I think this match motivated the West Indies to look at themselves as possible champions.

The West Indians toyed with New Zealand in the semifinals while Australia edged out a determined England in a low-scoring contest.

There was lot of talk about Gary Gilmour, the left-arm medium-pacer from Australia. I remember his destructive spell (12-6-14-6). It was top quality seam bowling as he exploited the conditions very well.

I remember the final for Clive Lloyd's knock. He just eased into his role of smashing the bowlers and there was some great entertainment at Lord's. It was an ideal setting as two of the best one-day teams were locked in a fierce contest. It was thrilling no doubt and will be remembered mainly for Lloyd's rich strokeplay as he hit a century that then some exceptionally brilliant fielding saw West Indies tame Australia. The margin was 17 runs and the finale befitting the occasion as the inaugural World Cup was over in a mere fortnight.

(Madan Lal is former coach of Indian cricket team and was part of the 1983 World Cup winning Indian squad