Cricket World Cup
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The Cricket World Cup is the world championship of one-day cricket, a tournament held quadrenially between all Test-playing nations, as well as several representatives from other cricket-playing nations who qualify through a series of qualifying matches. The next tournament will be held in the West Indies in 2007.
History
The Cricket World Cup was first held in 1975 in England, with eight teams participating: 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).
The first three tournaments were held in England. N. K. P. Salve, President of the Indian Cricket Board recounts the awarding of hosting rights for the 1987 World Cup in his book The Story of the Reliance Cup. According to Salve, he was given two tickets for the 1983 World Cup final at Lord's. When India unexpectedly qualified for the final, he requested two additional tickets from the MCC for friends who had just arrived from India. The MCC refused his request. Following this rebuff, Salve campaigned heavily amongst associate members of the International Cricket Council to form a bloc of voters, who ultimately awarded the hosting of the 1987 World Cup jointly to India and Pakistan.
Since 1987, the hosting of the World Cup been shared by the major cricket playing regions of the world - western Europe, the Indian subcontinent, Australasia, southern Africa and the West Indies. The tournaments have been based mainly in the local superpowers, though matches are held in all regional cricketing nations.
The World Cup is held in high esteem amongst fans, players, and administrators, unlike many of the myriad of one-day tournaments held around the world each year. It has been the scene of some of the major developments in the way one-day cricket is played.
Participating nations
In 2003, the nations that played in the World Cup were:
- All 10 Test nations: Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe
- All other countries with one-day international (ODI) status: currently just Kenya
- Three qualifiers from the ICC Trophy, the equivalent of the World Cup for non-Test countries: the Netherlands, Namibia and Canada.
Previous finals
| Year | Main host nations | Final venue | Scores | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | England | Lord's, London | Missing image Windies.jpg West Indies 291 for 8 (60 overs) |  Australia 274 all out (58.4 overs) | WI won by 17 runs |
| 1979 | England | Lord's, London | Missing image Windies.jpg West Indies 286 for 9 (60 overs) | Missing image ENG.PNG England 191 all out (50 overs) | WI won by 92 runs |
| 1983 | England | Lord's, London |  India 183 all out (54.4 overs) | Missing image Windies.jpg West Indies 140 all out (52 overs) | Ind won by 43 runs |
| 1987 | India/Pakistan | Eden Gardens, Calcutta | Australia 253 for 5 (50 overs) | Missing image ENG.PNG England 246 for 8 (50 overs) | Aus won by 7 runs |
| 1992 | Australia/New Zealand | MCG, Melbourne |  Pakistan 249 for 6 (50 overs) | Missing image ENG.PNG England 227 all out (49.2 overs) | Pak won by 22 runs |
| 1996 | India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore |  Sri Lanka245 for 3 (46.2 overs) | Australia 241 for 7 (50 overs) | SL won by 7 wickets |
| 1999 | England | Lord's, London | Australia 133 for 2 (20.1 overs) | Pakistan 132 all out (39 overs) | Aus won by 8 wickets |
| 2003 | South Africa | Wanderers, Johannesburg | Australia 359 for 2 (50 overs) | India 234 all out (39.2 overs) | Aus won by 125 runs |