History has always had the capacity to fascinate people with numerous breathtaking and awesome moments. Cricket world cup history is no exception to this and contains an illustrious past about the origin of the game, about those golden moments on the field and also about brilliant performances by players with the bat, ball or both.
World cup cricket history has been a witness to so many momentous cricketing occasions on the field, and going over all these again gives one a wonderful feeling. Fans who follow the game seriously know what it means to be able to relive those golden moments and cherish those wonderful moments.
Till date eight world cup events has been held and almost all these events have thrown up surprises. One can know about this by taking a peek to the world cup history. World cup is one of the most important events held in the cricket world. And it this coveted title that each team aims to win during the course of the tournament.
World cup history informs 1975 as the year when the first world cup was played. The game was played in England and a total of 8 teams participated in that event. Then, East Africa and Sri Lanka were the qualifiers, who were also known as minnows in cricketing terms. West Indies were the winners for the first even world cup recorded in world cup history. They defeated Australia by a small margin of 17 runs in the final played at Lords.
The next world cup recorded in world cup history took place in the year 1979 and again the event was hosted by England. This time also eight teams took part in the tournament and this time the minnow teams were Canada and Sri Lanka. The format which was in place for the tournament for the first world cup was followed here also. West Indies won the event for the second time in row. This time they best hosts England in the finals at Lords.
In 1983, England hosted the world cup tournament once again. This is the only instance in world cup history where the event was hosted by one country three times in a row. Till date, this has never happened again in world cup history. This time there was a surprise winner and for the first time in world cup history West Indies were defeated in the finals yet again played at Lords. In a low scoring game, they were defeated by the Indian team led by Kapil Dev. In India’s cricket and world cup history, this victory is considered as one of the major landmarks.
In 1987, for the first time in the history of the world cup, the vent was held outside England, the event was jointly hosted by India and Pakistan. This time it was Australia who won this event and the West India dominance we beginning to decline little by little. The next world cup in the year 1992 was jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia. Pakistan beat England in the finals at MCC by 22 runs to win the title. Never in world cup history have England won the title, despite being known as the land where cricket first originated.
The 1996 world cup was jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This time Sri Lanka was the surprise winners as they beat Australia in the finals. This was the first instance in world cup history when a team batting second won the trophy. Subsequent world cup were held in England and South Africa in the year 2000 and 2003 respectively. In 2000 Australia won the event for a second time by beating Pakistan in the finals. Again 2003, Australia won the world cup finals, this time by beating India in the finals by a whooping margin of 125 runs. For the first time in world cup history a team had won the world cup thrice.
The next world cup is scheduled to be held in West Indies in the year 2007. As usual, cricket pundits and critics have started predicting who will win and who will not. Australia would love to score a hatrick by winning the tournament three times in a row. However, only time will tell who will emerge as champions and who will not?