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.^[2] 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.^[3] This was the only appearance of cricket at the Summer Olympics.

The first multi team competition at international level was the 1912 Triangular Tournament. It was a Test cricket tournament played in England between England, Australia and South Africa.^[4] In subsequent years, international Test cricket has been generally been organised as bilateral series. A multi team Test tournament was not organised again until the quadrangular Asian Test Championship in 1999.

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,^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.^[8] 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 the International 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".^[9]

 

The format of the Cricket World Cup has changed greatly over the course of its history. The first four tournaments were played by eight teams, divided into two groups of four.^[10] The competition was held in two stages. A group stage and a knock-out stage. The four teams in each group played each other once in the group stage. The top two teams in each group went through 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.^[11] The tournament was made bigger in 1996, with two groups of six teams.^[12] 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. The top three teams in each pool went into the Super 6.^[13] The "Super 6" teams played the three other teams that had made it through from the other group. The teams carried their points forward from the matches played against the other two who were in their group.^[13] 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.^[14] Each team played each other once within the group. 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. Teams also carry their points forward from the match against the other team who qualified from the same group.^[15] The top four teams from the "Super 8" round advance to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals play in the final.

The current format features 14 teams. The 14 teams are split into two groups of seven. Within each group each team will play each other once. 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.

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.^[16] The trophy was designed and produced in London 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.^[17] 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.

 

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.^{[18][1][19][20]} Television rights, mainly for the 2011 and 2015 World Cup, were sold for over US$1.1 billion,^[21] and sponsorship rights were sold for a further US$500 million.^[22] The 2003 Cricket World Cup matches were attended by 626,845 people,^[23] while the 2007 Cricket World Cup sold more than 672,000 tickets and recorded the highest ticketing revenue for a Cricket World Cup.^[24][25]

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.^[26]

 

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.^[27]

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.^[28] 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^[29] meant that a match could be completed in one day.^[30] The 1987 Cricket World Cup was the first hosted outside England, held in Pakistan and India.

Year	Host Nation(s)	Final Venue	Final
			Winner	Result	Runner-up
1975 Details	England	Lord's, London	West Indies 291/8 (60 overs)	WI won by 17 runs Scorecard	Australia 274 all out (58.4 overs)
1979 Details	England	Lord's, London	West Indies 286/9 (60 overs)	WI won by 92 runs Scorecard	England 194 all out (51 overs)
1983 Details	England	Lord's, London	India 183 all out (54.4 overs)	Ind won by 43 runs Scorecard	West Indies 140 all out (52 overs)
1987 Details	India, Pakistan	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	Australia 253/5 (50 overs)	Aus won by 7 runs Scorecard	England 246/8 (50 overs)
1992 Details	Australia, New Zealand	MCG, Melbourne	Pakistan 249/6 (50 overs)	Pak won by 22 runs Scorecard	England 227 all out (49.2 overs)
1996 Details	India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	Sri Lanka 245/3 (46.2 overs)	SL won by 7 wickets Scorecard	Australa 241/7 (50 overs)
1999 Details	,   England, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Wales	Lord's, London	Australia 133/2 (20.1 overs)	Aus won by 8 wickets Scorecard	Pakistan 132 all out (39 overs)
2003 Details	South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe	Wanderers, Johannesburg	Australia 359/2 (50 overs)	Aus won by 125 runs Scorecard	India 234 all out (39.2 overs)
2007 Details	West Indies	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown	Australia 281/4 (38 overs)	Aus won by 53 runs (D/L) Scorecard	Sri Lanka 215/8 (36 overs)
2011 Details	Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	India 277/4 (48.2 overs)	India won by 6 wickets Scorecard	Sri Lanka 274/6 (50 overs)
2015 Details	Australia, New Zealand	MCG, Melbourne	Australia 186/3 (33.1 overs)	Australia won by 7 wickets Scorecard	New Zealand 183 all out (45 overs)
2019 Details	England	Lord's, London	England 241 all out (50 overs)	England won the super over Scorecard	New Zealand 241/8 (50 overs)

Since 1992, one player has been declared as "Man of the Tournament" at the end of the World Cup finals:^[31]

Year	Player	Performance details
1992	Martin Crowe	456 runs
1996	Sanath Jayasuriya	221 runs and 7 wickets
1999	Lance Klusener	281 runs and 17 wickets
2003	Sachin Tendulkar	673 runs and 2 wickets
2007	Glenn McGrath	26 wickets
2011	Yuvraj Singh	362 runs and 15 wickets
2015	Mitchell Starc	22 wickets
2019	Kane Williamson	578 runs
2023	Virat Kohli	765 runs

Previously, there was no tournament award, although Man of the Match awards have always been given for individual matches. Winning the Man of the Match in the final is logically noteworthy, as this indicates the player deemed to have played the biggest part in the World Cup final. To date the award has always gone to a member of the winning side. The Man of the Match award in the final of the competition has been awarded to:^[31]

Year	Player	Performance details
1975	Clive Lloyd	102 runs
1979	Viv Richards	138*
1983	Mohinder Amarnath	3/12 and 26
1987	David Boon	75 runs
1992	Wasim Akram	33 and 3/49
1996	Aravinda de Silva	107* and 3/42
1999	Shane Warne	4/33
2003	Ricky Ponting	140*
2007	Adam Gilchrist	149
2011	MS Dhoni	91*
2015	James Faulkner	3/36
2019	Ben Stokes	84*
2023	Travis Head	137

 

World Cup records[32]
Batting
Most runs	Sachin Tendulkar	1796 (1992–2007)
Highest average (min. 20 inns.)	Shivansh Maheshwari	63.31 (2007
Highest score	Glenn Maxwell v AFG	201* (2023)
Highest partnership	Sourav Ganguly & Rahul Dravid (2nd wicket) v Sri Lanka	318 (1999)
Most runs in a tournament	Virat Kohli	765 (2023)
Bowling
Most wickets	Glenn McGrath	71 (1996–2007)
Lowest average (min. 1000 balls bowled)	Glenn McGrath
Best bowling figures	Glenn McGrath v Namibia	7/15 (2003)
Most wickets in a tournament	Glenn McGrath	26 (2007)
Fielding
Most dismissals (wicket-keeper)	Adam Gilchrist	39 (1999–2007)
Most catches (fielder)	Ricky Ponting	24 (1996–2007)
Team
Highest score	India v Bermuda	413/5 (2007)
Lowest score	Canada v Sri Lanka	36 (2003)
Highest win %	Australia	75% (Played 69, Won 51)
Most consecutive wins	Australia	23 (1999–2007)
Most consecutive tournament wins	Australia	3 (1999–2007) [33]

• Browning, Mark (1999). A complete history of World Cup Cricket. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7318-0833-9.

• Official ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 website
• Official ICC website Archived 2009-03-19 at the Wayback Machine
• ICC World Cup 2023 Full Details Archived 2020-08-10 at the Wayback Machine