Question

LIST OF CRICKET WORLD CUPS 

Answer 1

The 1975 Cricket World Cup (officially called the Prudential Cup) was the first edition of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Cricket World Cup. It was held from 7 June to 21 June 1975 in England. The tournament was sponsored by Prudential Assurance Company and had 8 participating countries. These were the 6 Test playing teams of that time (namely Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan & West Indies) and Sri Lanka & East Africa. The preliminary matches were played in 2 groups of 4 each. The top two teams from each group then played the knock-out rounds of semifinals and final.

The matches were played as 60 overs per team in traditional white clothing and with red balls. They were all played during the day and, hence, started early. One of the most bizarre batting efforts in oneday history was made by Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar. England scored 334 (4 wickets, 60 overs) with Dennis Amiss (137 from 147 balls, 18 fours) scoring the first ever World Cup century, nobly supported by Keith Fletcher (68 from 107 balls, 4 fours, 1 six). The response of Gavaskar (36 from 174 balls, 1 four) was to bat through the 60 overs for 36 not out. The Prudential Cup was lifted by Clive Lloyd, captain of West Indies, who had started the tournament as the favourites.

The 1979 Cricket World Cup (aka Prudential World Cup, 1979) was the second edition of the tournament and was won by the West Indies. It was held from June 9 to June 23, 1979 in England. The format had remained unchanged from 1975. Eight countries participated in the event. The preliminary matches were played in 2 groups of 4 each. The top two teams in each group played the semifinals, whose winners played the final.

The matches played consisted of 60 overs per team and were played in traditional white clothing and with red balls. They were all played during the day and hence started early.

The Prudential Cup was lifted by Clive Lloyd, captain of the West Indies who started as the favorites to win the cup again. There was no 'Man of the Series' awarded in 1979.

The 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup (also known as Prudential World Cup) was the third edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament. It was held from 9 June to 25 June 1983 in England and was won by India. Eight countries participated in the event. The preliminary matches were played in two groups of four teams each, and each country played the others in its group twice. The top two teams in each group qualified for the semi-finals.

The matches consisted of 60 overs per team and were played in traditional white clothing and with red balls. They were all played during the day.

The 1983 World Cup was full of dramatic cricket right from the start. Teams like India and Zimbabwe who were not playing well at those times scored upset victories over the West Indies and Australia respectively. England, Pakistan, India and tournament favorites West Indies qualified for the semifinals 

The 1987 Cricket World Cup (also known as Reliance World Cup) was the fourth edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament. It was held from October 8 to November 8, 1987 in India and Pakistan — the first held outside England. The format was unchanged from 1983 except for a reduction in the number of overs a team played from 60 to 50, the current standard. 8 countries participated in the event. The preliminary matches were played in 2 groups of 4 each in which each country played its groupmates twice. The top two teams in each group qualified for the semifinals, whose winners played the final. The matches were played with traditional white clothing and with red balls. They were all played during the day. There was no 'Man of the Series' awarded in 1987. The 1987 World Cup was lifted by Allan Border, captain of Australia who won against arch-rivals England by 7 runs in the most closely fought World Cup final to date in the Eden Gardens stadium in Calcutta. David Boon was named man of the match. The other semifinalists, India and Pakistan failed to bring about an eagerly awaited India-Pakistan final. The West Indies failed to live up to expectations by not even qualifying for the semifinals (in part because of Courtney Walsh's refusal to mankad Saleem Jaffar).

The 1992 Cricket World Cup (Benson & Hedges World Cup) was the fifth edition of the tournament and was held from 22 February to 25 March 1992 in Australia and New Zealand. Sponsored by Benson and Hedges, it was won by Pakistan, who defeated England in the final. The 1992 World Cup was the first to feature coloured player clothing, white cricket balls and black sightscreens with a number of matches being played under floodlights. These innovations had been increasingly used in One Day Internationals since World Series Cricket introduced them in the late 1970s, but they were not a feature of the first four World Cups.

The 1992 World Cup was also the first to be held in Southern hemisphere. It was also the first World Cup to include the South Africa national cricket team, which had been allowed to re-join the International Cricket Council as a Test-playing nation after the end of apartheid. 

Answer 2

The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup after its official sponsors, was the sixth edition of the tournament organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was the second World Cup to be hosted by Pakistan and India, and for the first time by Sri Lanka. The tournament was won by Sri Lanka, who defeated Australia in the final at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The 1996 World Cup was played in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Controversy dogged the tournament before any games were played, however, when Australia and the West Indies refused to send their teams to Sri Lanka following the Central Bank Bombing by the Tamil Tigers in January, citing security concerns. Sri Lanka, in addition to offering maximum security to the teams, questioned the validity of citing security concerns when the International Cricket Council had determined it was safe. After extensive negotiations, the ICC ruled that Sri Lanka would be awarded both games on forfeit. As a result of this decision, Sri Lanka automatically qualified for the quarter-finals before playing a game. The 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, the seventh edition of the tournament, was hosted primarily by England, with some games being hosted in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the Netherlands. The World Cup was won by Australia, who beat Pakistan by 8 wickets at ****'s Cricket Ground in London. New Zealand and South Africa were the other semifinalists. The 12 contesting teams were divided into 2 groups; each team played all the others in their group during the league stage. The top three from each group advanced to the Super Sixes, a new concept for the 1999 World Cup, where each qualifier from group A played each qualifier from group B. The teams also carried forward their points from the games against the other qualifiers from their group. The top four in the Super Sixes contested the semifinals The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was the eighth ICC Cricket World Cup and was played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9 February to 24 March. 2003 was the first time that the Cricket World Cup had been held in Africa. The tournament featured 14 teams and 54 matches, the most in the tournament history up to that time. The tournament followed the format introduced in the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup with the teams divided into 2 groups, and the top three in each group qualifying for the Super Sixes stage. The tournament saw upsets in the first round with South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies and England failing to make it to Super Sixes stage while Zimbabwe and Kenya made it to Super Sixes stage and Kenya, a non-Test playing nation, made the semi-finals of the tournament. The tournament was won by Australia who defeated India in the final The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007, using the sport's One Day International format. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the 2003 World Cup (despite a field larger by two teams). The 16 competing teams were initially divided into four groups, with the two best-performing teams from each group moving on to a "Super 8" format. From this, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa won through to the semi-finals, with Australia defeating Sri Lanka in the final to win their third consecutive World Cup. Australia's unbeaten record in the tournament increased their total to 29 consecutive World Cup matches without loss, a streak dating back to 23 May 1999, during the group stage of the 1999 World Cup. The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It was Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a World Cup. The World Cup was also due to be co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to remove Pakistan from the hosting countries. The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have now been shifted to Mumbai. Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan's matches (including the semi-final) were awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh. All matches in the World Cup were accorded One Day International status, with all matches being played over 50 overs. Fourteen national cricket teams competed in the tournament, including ten full members and four associate members The World Cup took place between 19 February and 2 April 2011, with the first match played on 19 February 2011 with co-hosts India and Bangladesh facing off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka. The opening ceremony was held on 17 February 2011 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, two days before the start of the tournament, with the final on 2 April 2011 between India and Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. India won the tournament defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final. India became the first nation to win a World Cup final on home soil. India's Yuvraj Singh was declared the man of the tournament.