The Cricket World Cup is an international tournament for One Day International (ODI) cricket. The finals of the tournament are held every four to five years and it is considered to be the premiere international tournament in the sport. All of the full (Test-playing) members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) automatically qualify for the tournament and the remaining teams play qualifying rounds for the right to compete at the world cup. The World Cup is held in two stages: a group stage and a knockout finals stage. However, this format has changed many times over the years. Let’s find out who won the first Cricket World Cup.
Who won the first Cricket World Cup?
Although cricket is a very old sport (the first international Test match was played in 1877), the first World Cup tournament wasn’t held until 1975. The reason for this is that a shorter form of cricket had only recently been introduced to the international scene (a Test match is scheduled to run for 5 days) and this made a world cup a viable proposition. England was chosen to host the tournament and 8 international teams competed in the first event. The combined Caribbean team, known as the West Indies, won the first tournament beating Australia by 17 runs in the final.
Women’s Cricket World Cup
Surprisingly, the first Women’s Cricket World Cup was held in England 2 years prior to the men’s tournament in 1973. The tournament consisted of 7 teams and the final match was won by England who beat Australia by 92 runs to win the tournament.
World Twenty20
An even shorter form of cricket, known as Twenty20, was invented in 2003. The first international ICC World Twenty20 was held in 2007 and the tournament was won by Inda, who beat Pakistan by 5 runs. The first women’s tournament was held in 2009 and was won by England.
Did you know?
Australia has been the most dominant nation in the men’s and women’s Cricket World Cup. Australia has won 4 men’s tournaments (including 3 in a row) and 6 women’s tournaments.
Some people consider the 1912 triangular Test Match tournament to be the first official cricket world cup, but the event was a failure because of poor weather and disappointing crowds. The event, which featured the three test playing nations of the time (England, Australia and South Africa) was won by England.
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