Cricket World Cup History, Cricket World Cup Winners

In the Cricket history, the ICC Cricket World Cup is the biggest Cricket tournament of one day cricket matches. So far 8 such tournaments are held in Cricket world cup history. The winners of these tournaments are: Australia winner for the most 3 times, West Indies won 2 times while India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have won one time each. Following is the summary information about the Cricket World Cup History so far.

The ODI Cricket World Cup History begun in 1975 when England held the first world cup sponsored by Prudential Insurance Company and so named Prudential World Cup. This tournament is played between cricket Test playing nations and qualifiers. Forthcoming Cricket World cup 2007 is hosted by West Indies and 16 teams will play in this tournament. Following is the summary history of each of the tournaments held so far.

First Cricket World Cup, 1975, England - Winner: West Indies
In the Cricket World Cup History first ever tournament was hosted by England. This was played between England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and East Africa. This was sponsored by Prudential Insurance Company and hence named Prudential World Cup. West Indies won this first ever held tournament beating Australia by 17 runs. West Indies made 291/8 in 60 overs with Clive Lloyd 102 runs off just 85 balls but Australia fall short by 17 runs.

Second Cricket World Cup, 1979, England - West Indies won
This was the second World Cup tournament played in 1979, once again hosted by England. And once again was sponsored by Prudential Insurance Company and hence named Prudential World Cup. This was played between Australia, Canada, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri lanka and West Indies. By first batting in final West Indies made 286/9 with the help of superb batting from Sir Vivian Richards 138*. England could not achieve this score and lost the game by 92 runs.

Third Cricket World Cup Winner India, In 1983, at England
The third tournament was played in 1983, once again hosted by England and was sponsored by Prudential Insurance Company. This was played between Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Srilanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. This tournament is remembered in the histroy of Indian cricket and in the history of world cricket too. The final was played between India and West Indies. In the first innings India made only 183 in 54.4 overs. No one hope that the India could win this game with such low score of 183. But it was surprise for all the cricket fans and India restrict West Indies to only 140 and won the world cup by 43 runs. Mohinder Amarnath named man of the match for his all rounder performance.

Fourth Cricket World Cup, 1987, India and Pakistan - Australia won
This is the first time the Cricket World Cup hosted out side England in Cricket History. This was jointly hosted by India and Pakistan and sponsored by Reliance company and so named Reliance World Cup. It was played between Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. The final was played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India between Australia and England. Playing first Australia made 253/7 in 50 overs and win the tournament by 7 runs to England. David Boon was named man of the match for his 75 runs.

Fifth Cricket World Cup, 1992, Australia and New Zealand - Pakistan won
The Fifth time it was played between Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It was Jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand called the Benson and Hedges World Cup. Final was played between Pakistan and England and Pakistan win the game by 22 runs, Wasim Akram named man of the match.

Sixth Cricket World Cup, 1996 - Winner Sri Lanka
The Sixth tournament was jointly hosted by three countries India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was called Wills World Cup. It was played between Australia, England, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Netherlands, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, West Indies and Zimbabwe. This tournament was remembered for three things in Cricket World Cup History, first the winner is one of the hosting nations, second first time win by the team batting second in world cup final and the third they are the winner throughout without loosing single match. Srin Lanka won the world cup beating Australia by 7 wickets. Aravinda da Silva named man of the match for his 107*.

Seventh Cricket World Cup, 1999, England - Australia won Seventh Cricket World Cup was called ICC World Cup and hosted by England again. It was played between Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Scotland, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. The final was played at Lords between Australia and Pakistan. Australia easily win over Pakistan by 8 wickets in the low scoring game. Batting first Pakistan made only 132, the lowest total ever recorded in final in Cricket World Cup History. Shane Warne named man of the match for his superb bowling performance.

Eighth Cricket World Cup, 2003, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya - Australia won The Eighth tournament was played between Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, England, India, Kenya, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Scotland, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. It was jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. It was also called ICC Cricket World Cup. The final was played between Australia and India, with Australia win the match by 125 runs. This is the third time Australia win the world cup, the highest number of time any nation who won the world cup in Cricket World Cup History.

Forthcoming Ninth ICC Cricket World Cup, 2007, West Indies - (Who will win?) Forthcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 will start from March, 2007. This is the first time in Cricket World Cup History hosted by West Indies. It will be contested by 16 teams divided into 4 groups.
A. Australia, South Africa, Scotland, Holland
B. Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bermuda
C. New Zealand,England,Kenya,Canada
D. Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland
Top two teams from each group will then be taken to Super 8 formate group. From these top 8 teams semi-finalists will be decided.