History of the Cricket World Cup facts for kids
The Cricket World Cup is a big international cricket tournament. It's like the Olympics for cricket! Teams from all over the world compete to see who is the best. It happens every four years.
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Early World Cups (1975-1983)
The very first Cricket World Cup was held in 1975 in England. England was the only country ready to host such a huge event back then. The tournament started on June 7. The first three World Cups were called the "Prudential Cup" because of their sponsor, Prudential.
In these early tournaments, each team played 60 "overs." An over is when a bowler bowls six balls. Players wore traditional white cricket clothes and used red cricket balls.
Eight teams played in the first tournament: Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the West Indies. These were the main cricket-playing nations. Sri Lanka and a team from East Africa also joined. One team that couldn't play was South Africa. They were not allowed to play international cricket because of their country's unfair rules called apartheid.
The West Indies won the first World Cup! They beat Australia by 17 runs in the final match at Lord's.
In the 1979 World Cup, a new competition called the ICC Trophy was started. This helped teams that weren't yet playing "Test cricket" to qualify for the World Cup. Sri Lanka and Canada qualified through this. The West Indies won again, beating England by 92 runs in the final. After this, everyone agreed the World Cup should happen every four years.
England hosted the 1983 event for the third time. By now, Sri Lanka had become a Test-playing nation. Zimbabwe qualified through the ICC Trophy. A new rule was added: four fielders had to stay inside a special 30-yard circle around the stumps. India was a big surprise! No one expected them to win, but they beat the strong West Indies team by 43 runs in the final. India became the champions!
New Eras (1987-1996)
The 1987 tournament was called the Reliance World Cup. It was held in India and Pakistan. This was the first time the World Cup was played outside England. The games were changed from 60 overs to 50 overs per team. This was because the days are shorter in India and Pakistan compared to England's summer. Australia won this championship. They beat England by just 7 runs in the final. This was the closest World Cup final ever!
The 1992 World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand. This tournament brought many exciting changes! Players started wearing coloured clothes instead of white. White balls were used instead of red ones. Some matches were played at night under lights. Also, the fielding rules changed a bit. The South African team played in the World Cup for the first time. This was because the unfair apartheid rules had ended, and they were allowed to play international sports again. Pakistan had a tough start but ended up winning. They beat England by 22 runs in the final.
The 1996 championship was held in India and Pakistan again. Sri Lanka also hosted some matches. In one of the semi-final matches, Sri Lanka was playing India. India was losing badly, and some fans got upset. There was crowd trouble, and Sri Lanka was given the win. Sri Lanka then went on to win their first World Cup! They beat Australia by seven wickets in the final in Lahore.
Australia's Three Wins in a Row (1999-2007)
In 1999, the World Cup returned to England. Some matches were also played in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the Netherlands. Australia had some very close matches. In the semi-final against South Africa, the game ended in a tie! Australia moved to the final because of earlier results. In the final, Australia easily beat Pakistan. They bowled Pakistan out for 132 runs and then reached the target quickly, winning by eight wickets.
South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya hosted the 2003 World Cup. More teams played this time, going from twelve to fourteen. Kenya did very well! They beat Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. They also got a win because New Zealand refused to play in Kenya due to safety worries. Kenya reached the semi-finals, which was their best result ever. In the final, Australia made a huge score of 359 runs, the biggest score ever in a World Cup final. They beat India by 125 runs.
In 2007, the tournament was hosted by the West Indies. This meant the Cricket World Cup had now been played on all six continents where people live! Bangladesh made it to the second round for the first time after beating India. They later beat South Africa too. Ireland was playing in their first World Cup. They tied with Zimbabwe and beat Pakistan to also reach the second round. They then beat Bangladesh. Sadly, after their loss to Ireland, the Pakistani coach, Bob Woolmer, was found dead. The cause of death was heart failure. Australia defeated Sri Lanka in the final. They won by 53 runs. This meant Australia had not lost a World Cup match in 29 games and had won three World Cups in a row!
Images for kids
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1996 Cricket World Cup Trophy
