Benson & Hedges Challenge

Infobox cricket tournament main
name = Benson & Hedges Challenge


imagesize = 80px
caption =
administrator = Australian Cricket Board
cricket format = One Day International
tournament format =triangular round robin followed by a final
first =
last =
participants = cr|AUS
cr|ENG
cr|PAK
cr|West Indies
champions = cr|ENG
most successful =
most runs = flagicon|ENG Allan Lamb (216)
most wickets = flagicon|PAK Wasim Akram (8)The Benson and Hedges Challenge was a One Day International cricket tournament played at the WACA Ground in Perth, Western Australia from December 30, 1986 to January 7, 1987 as part of the America's Cup Festival of Sport.

The tournament was won by England who defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets in the Final. The West Indies and host nation Australia also took part.

This tournament saw the first matches played under floodlights at the WACA Ground with four of the seven matches being day/night games. In addition, the pitch square had been relaid prior to the 1985-86 season and had now had a full year to settle. The seating areas had also been redeveloped with concourse seating installed and a new two-tier stand built at the Swan River end of the ground. However, the grandstand was still under construction for the duration of the competition and was unable to accommodate spectators.

The team uniforms for the tournament were based on the official shirts for the 1986-87 America's Cup being held concurrently in Fremantle. Each team's main colour made up the bottom half of the shirt, their secondary colour made up the top half and a white stripe surrounded the shirt over the chest. The official logo of the tournament was based on a 12-metre class yacht with a white cricket ball half doubling as the spinnaker.

Prizemoney for the tournament was $3000 for winning and $1500 for losing in the group stage, $10 000 for finishing runners-up and $20 000 for winning the tournament, a total of $61 000.

Playing Squads

Australia

Allan Border (captain), Glenn Bishop, David Boon, Simon Davis, Dean Jones, Craig McDermott, Ken MacLeay, Geoff Marsh, Greg Matthews, Simon O'Donnell, Bruce Reid, Steve Waugh, Mike Whitney, Tim Zoehrer

England

Mike Gatting (captain), Bill Athey, Ian Botham, Chris Broad, Phillip DeFreitas, Graham Dilley, Phil Edmonds, John Emburey, Neil Foster, David Gower, Allan Lamb, Jack Richards, Gladstone Small

Pakistan

Imran Khan (captain), Asif Mujtaba, Ijaz Ahmed, Javed Miandad, Manzoor Elahi, Mudassar Nazar, Qasim Omar, Rameez Raja, Saleem Jaffar, Saleem Yousuf, Shoaib Mohammad, Wasim Akram

West Indies

Viv Richards (captain), Winston Benjamin, Jeff Dujon, Joel Garner, Larry Gomes, Tony Gray, Gordon Greenidge, Roger Harper, Desmond Haynes, Michael Holding, Gus Logie, Malcolm Marshall, Richie Richardson, Courtney Walsh

Match Results

All matches played at WACA Ground, Perth. For full scorecards, follow this link [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1986-87/OD_TOURNEYS/PTHCHL/]

*Pakistan v West Indies - 30 December 1986 (day/night)
**Pakistan 199-8 (Javed Miandad 53, Tony Gray 4-45) (50 ov); West Indies 165 (Richie Richardson 38, Mudassar Nazar 3-36) (46.2 ov). Pakistan won by 34 runs.
*Australia v England - 1 January 1987 (day/night)
**England 272-6 (Chris Broad 76, Ian Botham 68 (39), Allan Lamb 66, Bruce Reid 2-46) (49 ov); Australia 235 (Dean Jones 104, Phillip DeFreitas 3-42) (48.2 ov). England won by 37 runs.
*Australia v Pakistan - 2 January 1987 (day/night)
**Australia 273-6 (Dean Jones 121, Steve Waugh 82, Imran Khan 2-43) (50 ov); Pakistan 274-9 (Qasim Omar 67, Asif Mujtaba 60*, Manzoor Elahi 48, Steve Waugh 4-48) (49.5 ov). Pakistan won by 1 wicket.
*England v West Indies - 3 January 1987 (day)
**England 228-9 (Allan Lamb 71, Jack Richards 50, Joel Garner 5-47) (50 ov); West Indies 209 (Gus Logie 51, Graham Dilley 4-46) (48.2 ov). England won by 19 runs.
*Australia v West Indies - 4 January 1987 (day)
**West Indies 255-8 (Gordon Greenidge 100, Michael Holding 53* (35), Simon O'Donnell 4-65) (50 ov); Australia 91 (Steve Waugh 29, Tony Gray 3-9, Michael Holding 3-32) (35.4 ov). West Indies won by 164 runs.
*England v Pakistan - 5 January 1987 (day/night)
**Pakistan 229-5 (Shoaib Mohammad 66, Javed Miandad 59, John Emburey 2-65) (50 ov); England 232-7 (Chris Broad 97) (49.4 ov). England won by 3 wickets.

Final

*England v Pakistan - 7 January 1987 (day)
**Pakistan 166-9 (Javed Miandad 77*, Gladstone Small 3-28, Ian Botham 3-29) (50 ov)
**England 167-5 (Mike Gatting 49, Allan Lamb 47, Wasim Akram 3-27) (40.1 ov)
***England won by 5 wickets.

Javed Miandad was named by Rod Marsh as the Benson and Hedges Challenge Champion (the name given to the Player of the Match in the Final) and was awarded an 18ct gold Longines Conquest watch, then valued at $15 000.

Tournament Highlights

*Pakistan's shock win over the West Indies in the opening match of the Challenge
*Ian Botham hitting Australian fast-medium bowler Simon Davis for 26 runs in an over
*John Emburey catching Ken MacLeay at long-on overhead, one-handed and falling backwards. The catch was named as Channel Nine's Classic Catch of 1986-87
*Dean Jones scoring centuries on consecutive days against England and Pakistan
*Dean Jones and Steve Waugh adding 173 for the 4th wicket against Pakistan, then an Australian ODI 4th wicket record
*Asif Mujtaba guiding Pakistan from 6 for 129 to 9 for 274 against Australia
*England defeating a full-strength West Indies side to ensure an England-Pakistan final with two group matches to spare
*Gordon Greenidge scoring his first international century in Australia

The Challenge was England's second tournament victory of the 1986-87 Australian summer. They had retained The Ashes at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 28 December 1986 and would go on to win the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup against Australia and the West Indies.

External links

* [http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1986-87/OD_TOURNEYS/PTHCHL/ Cricinfo scorecards for the B&H Perth Challenge]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc9f5RFLneE AUS v ENG,1986-87 Perth Challenge Game 2 - YouTube]