| ICC Cricket World Cup | |
|---|---|
 The current ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy. | |
| Administrator | International Cricket Council |
| Format | One Day International |
| First tournament | 1975, England |
| Last tournament | 2007, West Indies |
| Next tournament | 2011, India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh |
| Tournament format | multiple (refer to article) |
| Number of teams | 19 |
This section of our website would give you a brief history of Cricket World Cup. Cricket World Cup history has been fascinating and has witnessed some teams getting transformed from Majors to minnows and vice versa. The rich history of Cricket World Cup includes some interesting facts, figures and memories.
Before the first Cricket World Cup :
The first ever international cricket match was played between Canada and the United States, on the 24 and 25 September 1844. However, the first credited Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England, and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years. South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889.[5] Representative cricket teams were selected to tour each other, resulting in bilateral competition. Cricket was also included as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Games, where Great Britain defeated France to win the gold medal.[6] This was the only appearance of cricket at the Summer Olympics.
The first multilateral competition at international level was the 1912 Triangular Tournament, a Test cricket tournament played in England between all three Test-playing nations at the time: England, Australia and South Africa. The event was not a success: the summer was exceptionally wet, making play difficult on damp uncovered pitches, and attendances were poor, attributed to a "surfeit of cricket".In subsequent years, international Test cricket has been generally been organised as bilateral series: a multilateral Test tournament was not organised again until the quadrangular Asian Test Championship in 1999.
The number of nations playing Test cricket increased gradually over the years, with the addition of West Indies in 1928, New Zealand in 1930, India in 1932, and Pakistan in 1952, but international cricket continued to be played as bilateral Test matches over three, four or five days.
In the early 1960s, English county cricket teams began playing a shortened version of cricket which only lasted for one day. Starting in 1962 with a four-team knockout competition known as the Midlands Knock-Out Cup,[8] and continuing with the inaugural Gillette Cup in 1963, one-day cricket grew in popularity in England. A national Sunday League was formed 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 available and as compensation for the frustrated crowd. It was a forty over match with eight balls per over.
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 ICC to consider organising a Cricket World Cup
Cricket World Cup history starts from the year 1975, when the first World Cup was held in England. Eight teams participated in that World Cup and it was a huge success. West Indies were the winner in the inaugural World Cup. The final was between West Indies and Australia. West Indies won the game by 18 runs.
ricket World Cup history then witnessed the second World Cup in the year 1979, once again in England. Again eight teams participated in this event and once again West Indies emerged as the winners. The format was same as 1975. Final was between West Indies and England. West Indies beat England by 92 runs.
History of Cricket World Cup then includes one of the most remarkable chapters in the Cricket World Cup history – India defeating the mighty West Indies. Out of the eight teams, only Zimbabwe was the minnows, Sri Lanka already had the Test status in the year 1982. Zimbabwe defeated the mighty Australians, but India was the real star of the tournament, as they come out from a situation of 17-5 against the minnows Zimbabwe and then managed to defeat West Indies by 43 runs.
The history of Cricket World Cup took a step outside England, as the tournament was hosted for the first time outside England. India and Pakistan were the joint hosts of the tournament. The final was between Australia and England and the former managed to run away with the title by just 7 runs. This is still the closest World Cup final, when one considers the World Cup of ODIs.
Cricket World Cup history got richer and richer, as the world entered into the fifth World Cup. This time, the hosts were Australia and New Zealand. With this, another venue was added in the history of Cricket World Cup. Pakistan was the new world champions, pinning England in a tense final that ended in a 22 run Pakistani victory. Imran Khan got retired after winning the World Cup for his team. This time, the number of teams was nine.
With the 1996 World Cup, history of Cricket World Cup was once again made on the pitches of the sub continent, as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were the joint hosts of the World Cup. This World Cup got a new winner in Sri Lanka. The minnows of the Cricketing world suddenly grew up to the levels of the Big Boys of the game. They remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, as they got a walkover against Australia and West Indies, as both the teams refused to play in the island country due to security reasons. Sri Lanka though, showed what it takes to beat the best team of the tournament, as they won the finals by 6 wickets against the Australians.
Cricket World Cup history saw another U turn, when the World Cup returned to England after a span of 16 years. As the trend started from the last World Cup that Australia would be playing against a team from Sub continent, Pakistan was the finalist this time. Though, this wasn’t their day as they were bundled out for a mere 123 by the mighty Australians. This World Cup victory marks the reign of Australian Cricket over the world of Cricket that lasted for almost a decade.
In 2003, Cricket World Cup history unfolds the drama in yet another venue – South Africa. The World Cup saw India’s reformation into one of the stronger sides of the world, which got defeated to only Australia, twice; once in the league games and the second one was the finals. India lost the finals to Australia by a huge margin of 122 runs.
History of Cricket World Cup unfolded its last chapter till date in yet another venue – West Indies. The group of island countries marked the reign of another Aussie victory in the World Cup finals. Again, the trend set back in 1996 World Cup with the finals between Australia and a sub continent country, continued as this time the finalists was Sri Lanka. Australia defeated Sri Lanka by 53 runs to complete their third straight World Cup victory and fourth World Cup victory overall.
Qualification
The Test-playing nations qualify automatically for the World Cup main event, while the other teams have to qualify through a series of preliminary qualifying tournaments. The One Day International playing nations automatically enter the final qualification tournament, the World Cup Qualifier, along with other nations who have qualified through separate competitions.
Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the second World Cup, where two of the eight places in the finals were awarded to the leading teams in the ICC Trophy. The number of teams selected through the ICC Trophy has varied throughout the years; currently, six teams are selected for the Cricket World Cup. The World Cricket League (administered by theInternational Cricket Council) is the qualification system provided to allow the Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC more opportunities to qualify.The name "ICC Trophy" has been changed to "ICC World Cup Qualifier".
Under the current qualifying process, the World Cricket League, all 91 Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC are able to qualify for the World Cup. Associate and Affiliate members must play between two and five stages in the ICC World Cricket League to qualify for the World Cup finals, depending on the Division in which they start the qualifying process.
Process summary in chronological order:
- Regional tournaments: Top teams from each regional tournaments will be promoted to a division depending on the teams' rankings according to the ICC and each division's empty spots.
- Division One: 6 Teams — All automatically qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
- Division Three: 6 Teams — Top 2 promoted to Division Two.
- Division Two: 6 Teams — Top 4 qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
- Division Five: 6 Teams — Top 2 promoted to Division Four.
- Division Four: 6 Teams — Top 2 promoted to Division Three.
- Division Three (second edition): 6 Teams — Top 2 qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
- World Cup Qualifier: 12 Teams — Top 6 are awarded ODI status and Top 4 qualify for the World Cup.
Tournament
The format of the Cricket World Cup has changed greatly over the course of its history. Each of the first four tournaments was played by eight teams, divided into two groups of four. There, competition comprised two stages, a group stage and a knock-out stage. The four teams in each group played each other in the round-robin group stage, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals played against each other in the final. With the return of South Africa in 1992 after the ending of the apartheid boycott, nine teams played each other once in the group phase, and the top four teams progressed to the semi-finals. The tournament was further expanded in 1996, with two groups of six teams. The top four teams from each group progressed to quarter-finals and semi-finals.
A new format was used for the 1999 and 2003 World Cups. The teams were split into two pools, with the top three teams in each pool advancing to the Super 6.The "Super 6" teams played the three other teams that advanced from the other group. As they advanced, the teams carried their points forward from previous matches against other teams advancing alongside them, giving them an incentive to perform well in the group stages. The top four teams from the "Super 6" stage progressed to the semi-finals, with winners playing in the final.
The last format used in the 2007 World Cup, features 16 teams allocated into four groups of four. Within each group, the teams play each other in a round-robin format. Teams earn points for wins and half-points for ties. The top two teams from each group move forward to the Super 8 round. The "Super 8" teams play the other six teams that progressed from the different groups. Teams earned points in the same way as the group stage, but carrying their points forward from previous matches against the other teams who qualified from the same group to the "Super 8" stage. The top four teams from the "Super 8" round advance to the semi-finals, and the winners of the semi-finals play in the final.
The current format, approved by ICC to be used in 2011 World Cup, features 14 teams allocated. Within each group, the teams will play in a round-robin format. The top four teams from each group will proceed to the knock out stage playing quarter-finals. Winners of the quarter-finals will play semi-finals and the winning semi-finalists will play in the final.
Trophy
The ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy is presented to the winners of the World Cup finals. The current trophy was created for the 1999 championships, and was the first permanent prize in the tournament's history; prior to this, different trophies were made for each World Cup The trophy was designed and produced inLondon by a team of craftsmen from Garrard & Co over a period of two months.
The current trophy is made from silver and gild, and features a golden globe held up by three silver columns. The columns, shaped as stumps and bails, represent the three fundamental aspects of cricket: batting, bowling and fielding, while the globe characterises a cricket ball The trophy is designed with platonic dimensions, so that it can be easily recognised from any angle. It stands 60 cm high and weighs approximately 11 kilograms. The names of the previous winners are engraved on the base of the trophy, with space for a total of twenty inscriptions.
The original trophy is kept by the ICC. A replica, which differs only in the inscriptions, is permanently awarded to the winning team.
Media coverage
The tournament is the world's third largest (with only the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics exceeding it), being televised in over 200 countries to over 2.2 billion television viewers. Television rights, mainly for the 2011 and 2015 World Cup, were sold for over US$1.1 billion, and sponsorship rights were sold for a further US$500 million The 2003 Cricket World Cup matches were attended by 626,845 people,while the 2007 Cricket World Cup sold more than 672,000 tickets and recorded the highest ticketing revenue for a Cricket World Cup.
Successive World Cup tournaments have generated increasing media attention as One-Day International cricket has become more established. The 2003 World Cup in South Africa was the first to sport a mascot, Dazzler the zebra. An orange raccoon-like creature known as Mello was the mascot for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Selection of hosts
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.
England hosted the first three competitions. The ICC decided that England should host the first tournament because it was ready to devote the resources required to organising the inaugural event. India volunteered to host the third Cricket World Cup, but most ICC members believed England to be a more suitable venue because the longer period of daylight in England in June meant that a match could be completed in one day The 1987 Cricket World Cup was the first hosted outside England, held in India and Pakistan.
Many of the tournaments have 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. India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh are going to host the 2011 World Cup. Pakistan was the 4th country involved to host the 2011 World Cup; however, due to security reasons after the March 3, 2009 Lahore terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus, the 14 scheduled matches in Pakistan (including one semi-final) have been reassigned to the remaining 3 countries by the ICC executive board. The final for the 2011 world cup will be in Mumbai. Every Test-playing nation now has hosted or co-hosted a Cricket World Cup at least once, except Bangladesh, the most recent country to achieve Test status.
