The ICC Cricket World Cup is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament held every four years. The tournament is one of the world’s most viewed sporting events and is considered the “flagship event of the international cricket calendar” by the ICC.
The first World Cup was organised in England in June 1975, with the first ODI cricket match having been played only four years prior. However, a separate Women’s Cricket World Cup had been held two years before the first men’s tournament, and a tournament involving multiple international teams had been held as early as 1912, when a triangular tournament of Test matches was played between Australia, England and South Africa. Each of the first three World Cups were held in England. From the 1987 tournament onwards, hosting has been shared between countries under an unofficial rotation system, with fourteen ICC members having hosted at least one match in the tournament.
Sl No. | Cricket World Cup | Host Countries | Winner | Runner-up |
1 | 1975 (Prudential Cup) | England | West Indies | Australia |
2 | 1979 (Prudential Cup) | England | West Indies | England |
3 | 1983 (Prudential Cup) | England | India | West Indies |
4 | 1987 (Reliance World Cup) | India, Pakistan | Australia | England |
5 | 1992 (Benson and Hedges Cup) | Australia, New Zealand | Pakistan | England |
6 | 1996 (Wills World Cup) | India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka | Sri Lanka | Australia |
7 | 1999 (ICC Cricket World Cup) | England | Australia | Pakistan |
8 | 2003 (ICC Cricket World Cup) | South Africa | Australia | India |
9 | 2007 (ICC Cricket World Cup) | West Indies | Australia | Srilanka |
10 | 2011 (ICC Cricket World Cup) | India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka | India | Srilanka |
11 | 2015 (ICC Cricket World Cup) | Australia, New Zealand |