| File:AUSTRALIA WIN WC03.jpg Australia after winning the 2003 Cricket World Cup |
The ICC Cricket World Cup, generally referred to as the Cricket World Cup, is the premier international championship of men's One-day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and is held every four years. According to the ICC, it is the most important tournament and the pinnacle of achievement in the sport.[1][2] The first Cricket World Cup contest was organised in England in 1975. A Women's Cricket World Cup is also held every four years; the first Women's World Cup was held in 1973.
The event is contested by all Test-playing nations, ten officially recognised national teams, plus ODI-playing nations. Nowadays, the World Cup consists of a Pool stage (played in round robin format), a Super Six stage, followed by semi-finals and a final.
Till the eighth World Cup tournament, five teams have won the tournament. The most successful World Cup team is Australia, having won the tournament three times. West Indies have won the cup twice, while India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have each won the cup once.
The most recent Cricket World Cup was held between 9 February and 24 March 2003, in Southern Africa, where Australia were crowned champions after winning the final against India.[3] The next tournament will be held in the West Indies in 2007, which will be played between 16 teams.
History
Prior to the World Cup
The first cricket Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England. Cricket was included as a sport at the 1900 Summer Olympics, where Great Britain defeated France in the final to win the gold medal.[4] Cricket was not included in subsequent summer olympics.
The next international cricket competition was the 1912 Triangular Tournament. It was a Test cricket tournament played in England between all three Test playing nations at the time; England, Australia and South Africa. Due to lack of public interest and poor weather, the event was not organised again.[5] In the subsequent years, international test cricket teams generally engaged in bilateral series only.
In the early 1960s, English county cricket teams began playing a shortened version of cricket, which only lasted for one day. Starting in 1962 as a four-team knockout competition (known as the Midlands Knock-Out Cup),[6] and Gillette Cup in 1963, one-day cricket grew in popularity, leading to the formation of a national league (the Sunday League) in 1969. The first One-Day International event was played on the fifth day of a rain-aborted test match between England and Australia at Melbourne in 1971 to fill the time, and as compensation for the frustrated crowd. It was a forty over match with eight balls per over.[7]
The success and popularity of the domestic one-day competitions in England and other parts of the world as well as the early One-Day Internationals prompted the International Cricket Council to consider organising a Cricket World Cup.[8]
Prudential World Cups
The Cricket World Cup was first held in 1975 in England, which was the only nation that was able to put forward the resources to stage an event of such magnitude.[9] The first three tournaments were officially known as the Prudential Cup after the financial services company Prudential plc who sponsored the event. The matches were of 60 overs per team and played in traditional white uniform and red balls. They were all played during the day. Eight teams participated in the first tournament: Australia, England, the West Indies, Pakistan, India, and New Zealand (the six Test nations at the time), with Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa. One notable omission was the South African cricket team who were not competing due to the international sports boycott. West Indies won the first Cricket World Cup by defeating Australia by 17 runs in the final.
The next two World Cups held in 1979 and 1983 were again hosted by England. The 1979 Cricket World Cup saw the introduction of the ICC Trophy, a competition used to select non-Test playing teams for the World Cup.[10] Sri Lanka and Canada qualified through the ICC Trophy in 1979. West Indies again won the World Cup tournament, defeating England by 92 runs. At their meeting which followed the World Cup, the International Cricket Conference agreed to make the competition a four-yearly event.
The 1983 event was hosted by England for a third consecutive time. By this time, Sri Lanka had become a Test playing nation, and Zimbabwe qualified through the ICC Trophy. India were crowned champions after upsetting the West Indies by 43 runs in the final. The odds of India winning the cup were quoted at 66 to 1 before the competition began.[8]
1987 – present
The 1987 Cricket World Cup was held in India and Pakistan. The games were reduced from 60 to 50 overs per innings, the current standard, because of the shorter daylight hours in the subcontinent as compared to England. Australia won the championship by defeating England by 7 runs, the closest margin ever in World Cup final history.
The 1992 Cricket World Cup held by Australia and New Zealand introduced many changes to the game such as coloured clothing, white balls, day/night matches and an alteration to the fielding restrictions. The South African cricket team participated in the event following the end of the international sports boycott. Pakistan overcame a dismal start to emerge as winners, defeating England by 22 runs in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The 1996 championship was held in the Indian subcontinent for the second time, with the inclusion of Sri Lanka as host for some of its group stage matches. In the semi-final, Sri Lanka, headed towards a crushing victory over India at Eden Gardens (Calcutta) after their hosts lost eight wickets while scoring 120 runs in pursuit of 254, were awarded victory by default after riots broke out in protest against the Indian performance. Sri Lanka went on to win their maiden championship by defeating Australia in the final by seven wickets, which was held in Lahore.
The 1999 event was held in England, with some matches also being held in Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands. Australia qualified for the final after reaching their target in their Super Six match against South Africa off the final over of the match and proceeded to the final after a tie in the semi-final against South Africa, in which a mix-up between South African batsmen Lance Klusener and Allan Donald saw Donald drop his bat and stranded mid-pitch to be run out. In the final Australia dismissed Pakistan for 132 and then reaching the target in less than 20 overs, with eight wickets in hand.
South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup. The number of teams participating in the event increased from twelve to fourteen. Kenya's wins against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe along with New Zealand's forfeit helped them get a Semi-final berth against India. In the final, Australia made 359 runs for the loss of two wickets, the largest ever total in a final, to defeat India by 125 runs.[3]
Format
Qualification
The qualifying tournaments were first introduced for the second World Cup to select the two teams for playing in the World Cup. The qualifying tournaments were contested as part of the ICC Trophy.[10] The number of teams getting selected through the ICC Trophy has varied from event to event. Currently, it selects six teams for the Cricket World Cup. The World Cricket League (administered by the International Cricket Council) is the qualification system to provide the every associates and affiliates more opportunity to qualify. In 2009 the name "ICC Trophy" will be changed to "ICC World Cup Qualifier".
In the current qualifying process, World Cricket League, all 86 Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC are able to qualify for the World Cup.The ICC World Cricket League have two-five steps (depending on the certain team) that the 86 Associate and Affiliate members have to go through to be selected for the World Cup. Non-Test playing teams from the last World Cup automatically qualifies for the Qualifier. While, the next best ranked teams are seeded in division two and division three. From division three, two teams are promoted to division two. From that, four teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier. While the others are still in contention. The first stage of qualification, for the other teams, is regional tournaments; from the final regional events, eight teams are promoted to division five. The top two teams from division five then moves up to division four. From which, the top two teams are promoted to division three (second edition). From division three (second edition), the top two teams goes to the World Cup Qualifier. The top six teams from the qualifier are then awarded ODI status and are in the World Cup.[11]
Tournament
- See also: Historical formats of final tournament
The format of the Cricket World Cup has changed greatly over the course of its history. The first four tournaments comprised of eight teams each, divided into two groups of four teams each. There were two stages, a group stage and a knockout stage. Each team played a round-robin, and then the top two teams in each group played in the semi-finals and the winners of the semi-finals played against each other in the final.
The 2007 Cricket World Cup will feature 16 teams allocated into four groups of four. Within each group, the teams will play each other in a round-robin format. Teams will earn points for a win and ties, but will get half the points for ties. The top two teams will advance to the "Super 8" round. The remaining 8 teams will again play in a round-robin format, except that they will not play the other team that advanced from their respective group. The teams earn points the same way they did in the group stages, but will also bring points scored against the other team who qualified from the same group in the group stages.[12] The top four teams from the Super 8 round will advance to the semi-finals and the winners of the semi-finals will then compete in the final.
Trophy
The ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy is presented to the team winning the Cricket World Cup final. The current trophy was created for the 1999 championships and is the first permanent prize in the tournament's history; the trophies before this all had different designs for each World Cup.[13] The trophy was designed and produced in London by a team of craftsmen from Garrard & Co (the Crown Jewellers). The whole process was completed over a period of two months time.
The current trophy is 60 cm high, is made from silver and gild, and features a golden globe held up by three silver columns. The columns, shaped as stumps and bails, represents the three fundamental aspects of cricket: batting, bowling and fielding, while the globe characterises a cricket ball.[14] It is designed with platonic dimensions, so that it can be easily recognised from any angle. The trophy weighs approximately 11 kilograms and has the names of the previous winners inscribed on its base. There is still room for another ten teams to have their name inscribed.
The actual trophy is kept by the International Cricket Council but a replica, which is identical in all aspects apart from the inscription of the previous champions is awarded to the winning team and remains in their possession.
Media coverage
The tournament today is one of the world’s largest and most viewed sporting events. The Cricket World Cup is televised in over 200 countries, with over two billion television viewers.[15] The television distribution rights to the 2007 Cricket World Cup have been sold to EchoStar Communications Corporation, which will be broadcasting to viewers from countries around the world, including an estimated 12 million viewers in the United States, which is a non-cricket playing nation.[16] The 2003 Cricket World Cup matches were attended by 626,845 people.[17]
The recent World Cups have transformed into larger media events than the previous ones, where One-Day International Cricket was still in its developing stages. Numerous sponsorship deals have been made for each of the World Cups, for example, the sponsors for the 2007 Cricket World Cup include LG Electronics, Pepsi, Hutch, Hero Honda, Indian Oil, Scotiabank and Visa.[18] Recent Cricket World Cups have also featured mascots. The World Cup mascot in the 2007 Cricket World Cup is an orange racoon-like creature known as Mello.[19][20]
Selection of hosts
England hosted the first three competitions. The ICC decided that England should host the first tournament because it was ready to put the resources needed in organising the inaugural event.[9] India proposed that it should host the third Cricket World Cup, but most ICC members believed England was a more suitable venue because longer period of daylight in June. This meant that a match could be completed in one day.[21] The first competition hosted outside of England was the 1987 Cricket World Cup, which was jointly held in India and Pakistan.
The International Cricket Council's executive committee votes for the hosts of the tournament after examining the bids made by the nations keen to hold a Cricket World Cup. All the World Cup events so far have been held in nations in which cricket is a popular sport. With the exception of Bangladesh and the West Indies, every Test playing nation has hosted or co-hosted a Cricket World Cup at least once. Many of the tournaments have also been jointly hosted by nations from the same geographical region, such as South Asia in 1987 and 1996, Australasia in 1992, Southern Africa in 2003 and West Indies in 2007.
Summary
Results
| Year | Host Nation(s) | Final Venue | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Result | Runner-up | ||||
| 1975 Details |
England | Lord's, London | Template:WINc 291 for 8 (60 overs) |
WI won by 17 runs [1] | Template:AUSc 274 all out (58.4 overs) | |
| 1979 Details |
England | Lord's, London | Template:WINc 286 for 9 (60 overs) |
WI won by 92 runs [2] | Template:ENGc 194 all out (51 overs) | |
| 1983 Details |
England | Lord's, London | Template:INDc 183 all out (54.4 overs) |
Ind won by 43 runs [3] | Template:WINc 140 all out (52 overs) | |
| 1987 Details |
India/Pakistan | Eden Gardens, Kolkata | Template:AUSc 253 for 5 (50 overs) |
Aus won by 7 runs [4] | Template:ENGc 246 for 8 (50 overs) | |
| 1992 Details |
Australia/New Zealand | MCG, Melbourne | Template:PAKc 249 for 6 (50 overs) |
Pak won by 22 runs [5] | Template:ENGc 227 all out (49.2 overs) | |
| 1996 Details |
India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | Template:SRIc 245 for 3 (46.2 overs) |
SL won by 7 wickets [6] | Template:AUSc 241 for 7 (50 overs) | |
| 1999 Details |
England | Lord's, London | Template:AUSc 133 for 2 (20.1 overs) |
Aus won by 8 wickets [7] | Template:PAKc 132 all out (39 overs) | |
| 2003 Details |
South Africa/Zimbabwe/Kenya | Wanderers, Johannesburg | Template:AUSc 359 for 2 (50 overs) |
Aus won by 125 runs [8] | Template:INDc 234 all out (39.2 overs) | |
| 2007 Details |
West Indies | Kensington Oval, Bridgetown | ||||
| 2011 Details |
Bangladesh/India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | ||||
Performance of teams
So far, 17 nations have qualified for the Cricket World Cup finals at least once (excluding qualifying tournaments). Of these, seven teams have taken part in every competition and only five have won. The West Indies won the first two, Australia won three (1987, 1999 and 2003) and three have been won by South Asian teams (India: 1983, Pakistan: 1992, Sri Lanka: 1996). The West Indies and Australia are also the only nations to have won consecutive titles (West Indies: 1975 and 1979; Australia: 1999 and 2003). Australia have also notably featured in 5 finals of the total 8 World Cups, including the last three in a row. England has not yet won the World Cup, but have been runners-up three times. The furthest a non-Test playing nation has ever reached is the semi-finals, achieved by Kenya in the 2003 tournament.
Apart from Sri Lanka, who co-hosted the 1996 Cricket World Cup, no other host has won the tournament. The only other host to reach a Final was England in the second tournament in 1979. Sri Lanka and England aside, other co-host nations which achieved or equalled their best finish in World Cups were New Zealand as semi-finalists in 1992, Zimbabwe reaching the Super Six in 2003 and Kenya as semi-finalists in 2003. In 1987, both co-hosting nations, India and Pakistan reached the semi-finals but neither managed to reach the final after losing to Australia and England respectively.
Below is a table providing an overview of the performances of teams over various World Cups.
| Team | Appearances | Best result | Statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Best Streak | First | Latest | Played | Won | Lost | Tie | NR | ||
 Australia
|
9 | 9 | 1975 | 2007 | Champions (1987, 1999, 2003) | 58 | 40 | 17 | 1 | 0 |
| File:West Indies Cricket Board Flag.svg West Indies | 9 | 9 | 1975 | 2007 | Champions (1975, 1979) | 48 | 31 | 16 | 0 | 1 |
 India
|
9 | 9 | 1975 | 2007 | Champions (1983) | 55 | 31 | 23 | 0 | 1 |
 Pakistan
|
9 | 9 | 1975 | 2007 | Champions (1992) | 53 | 29 | 22 | 0 | 2 |
 Sri Lanka
|
9 | 9 | 1975 | 2007 | Champions (1996) | 46 | 17 | 27 | 1 | 1 |
 England
|
9 | 9 | 1975 | 2007 | Runners-up (1979, 1987, 1992) | 50 | 31 | 18 | 0 | 1 |
 New Zealand
|
9 | 9 | 1975 | 2007 | Semifinals (1975, 1979, 1992, 1999) | 52 | 28 | 23 | 0 | 1 |
 Zimbabwe
|
7 | 7 | 1983 | 2007 | Super Six (1999, 2003) | 42 | 8 | 31 | 0 | 3 |
 South Africa
|
5 | 5 | 1992 | 2007 | Semifinals (1992, 1999) | 30 | 19 | 9 | 2 | 0 |
 Kenya
|
4 | 4 | 1996 | 2007 | Semifinals (2003) | 20 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 1 |
 Bangladesh
|
3 | 3 | 1999 | 2007 | Round 1 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 |
 Canada
|
3 | 2 | 1979 | 2007 | Round 1 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
 Netherlands
|
3 | 2 | 1996 | 2007 | Round 1 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
 Scotland
|
2 | 1 | 1999 | 2007 | Round 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
 Bermuda
|
1 | 1 | 2007 | 2007 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Ireland
|
1 | 1 | 2007 | 2007 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Namibia
|
1 | 1 | 2003 | 2003 | Round 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
 United Arab Emirates
|
1 | 1 | 1996 | 1996 | Round 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| File:East African Cricket Council.gif East Africa | 1 | 1 | 1975 | 1975 | Round 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
(Note:Includes appearances in the upcoming 2007 World Cup.)
Awards
Since 1992, at the end of the World Cup, one player is declared as "Man of the Tournament". Previous men of the tournaments were:[22]
1992 - 
Martin Crowe - 456 runs
1996 - 
Sanath Jayasuriya - 221 runs (strike rate of 132) and 7 wickets
1999 - 
Lance Klusener - 281 runs (strike rate of 122) and 17 wickets
2003 - 
Sachin Tendulkar - 673 runs and 2 wickets
Prior to the creation of the Man of the Tournament award, only Man of the Match awards were given, although it was considered a particularly good achievement to have received such a title in the Final; as this is generally given to the player who played the biggest part in winning the World Cup final. Previous Men of the Matches in the Finals were:[22]
1975 - 
Clive Lloyd - 102 runs
1979 - Viv Richards - 138 not out
1983 - Mohinder Amarnath - 3/12 and 26
1987 - 
David Boon - 75 runs
1992 - 
Wasim Akram - 3 wickets
1996 - Aravinda de Silva - 107 not out
1999 - Shane Warne - 4/33
2003 - Ricky Ponting - 140 not out
Records and statistics
| World Cup records[23] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Batting | ||
| Most runs | Sachin Tendulkar
|
1732 |
| Highest average (min. 20 inns.) | File:West Indies Cricket Board Flag.svg Viv Richards | 63.31 |
| Most centuries | Sourav Ganguly Mark Waugh Sachin Tendulkar
|
4 |
| Most 50+ scores | Sachin Tendulkar
|
16 |
| Highest score | Gary Kirsten v UAE
|
188* |
| Highest partnership | Rahul Dravid & Sourav Ganguly (2nd wicket) v Sri Lanka |
318 |
| Most runs in a tournament | Sachin Tendulkar
|
673 (2003) |
| Bowling | ||
| Most wickets | Wasim Akram
|
55 |
| Lowest average (min. 1000 balls bowled) | Imran Khan
|
19.26 |
| Best bowling figures | Glenn McGrath v Namibia
|
7/15 |
| Most wickets in a tournament | Chaminda Vaas
|
23 (2003) |
| Fielding | ||
| Most dismissals (wicketkeeper) | Adam Gilchrist
|
35 |
| Most catches (fielder) | Ricky Ponting
|
18 |
| Team | ||
| Highest score | Sri Lanka v Kenya
|
398/5 |
| Lowest score |  Canada v Sri Lanka
|
36 |
| Highest winning margin (runs) | Australia v Namibia
|
256 |
| Highest Win % | Australia
|
68.96% |
| Most consecutive wins | Australia
|
12* (1999–2003) |
See also
- 2007 in cricket
- International cricket in 2006-07
- International cricket in 2007
- Twenty20 World Championship
- U/19 Cricket World Cup
- Women's Cricket World Cup
References
- ^ ICC Cricket World Cup World Cup Overview
- ^ Cricket World Cup PDF
- ^ a b "Ruthless Aussies lift World Cup". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
- ^ "Olympic Games, 1900, Final". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 2006-09-09.
- ^ "The original damp squib". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
- ^ "The birth of the one-day game". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 2006-09-10.
- ^ "What is One-Day International cricket?". newicc.cricket.org. Retrieved 2006-09-10.
- ^ a b "The World Cup - A brief history". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
- ^ a b "The History of World Cup's". cricworld.com. Retrieved 2006-09-19.
- ^ a b "ICC Trophy - A brief history". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
- ^ World Cricket League World Cricket League Overview
- ^ "About the Event" (PDF). cricketworldcup.com. Retrieved 2006-09-02. Template:PDF
- ^ "Trophy is first permanent prize in game's history". cnnsi.com. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
- ^ "Cricket World Cup- Past Glimpses". webindia123.com. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
- ^ ICC Cricket World Cup World Cup Overview
- ^ Dish Network EchoStar Acquires Distribution Rights to ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 March 8, 2006. Retreived on 29 January 2007
- ^ Wisden Cricketers Almanack 2004
- ^ ICC Cricket World Cup Anti-infringement programme
- ^ ICC Cricket World Cup Guidelines for Media
- ^ Travour Mascot of Cricket World Cup 2007
- ^ "The 1979 World Cup in England". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 2006-09-19.
- ^ a b Cricket World Cup Past Glimpses
- ^ All records are based on statistics at Cricinfo.com's list of World Cup records
External links
| Forms |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Global events | ||
| Asia | ||
| Africa | ||
| Americas | ||
| East Asia and Pacific | ||
| Europe | ||
| Other | ||
Italics indicate a defunct competition. | ||