Cricket World Cup facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
ICC Men's Cricket World Cup

The Cricket World Cup Trophy
Administrator	International Cricket Council (ICC)
Format	One Day International
First edition	1975  England
Latest edition	2023  India
Next edition	2027  South Africa  Zimbabwe  Namibia
Number of teams	10(14 from 2027)
Current champion	Australia (6th title)
Most successful	Australia (6 titles)
Most runs	Sachin Tendulkar (2,278)
Most wickets	Glenn McGrath (71)

The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's 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), every four years, with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament. The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and considered as the "flagship event of the international cricket calendar" by the ICC. It is widely considered the pinnacle championship of the sport of cricket.

The first World Cup was organised in England in June 1975, with the first ODI cricket match having been played only four years earlier. 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. 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.

The current format involves a qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. In the tournament phase, 10 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete for the title at venues within the host nation over about a month. In the 2027 edition, the format will be changed to accommodate an expanded 14-team final competition.

A total of twenty teams have competed in the 13 editions of the tournament, with ten teams competing in the recent 2023 tournament. Australia has won the tournament six times, India and West Indies twice each, while Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England have won it once each. The best performance by a non-full-member team came when Kenya made the semi-finals of the 2003 tournament.

Australia are the current champions after winning the 2023 World Cup in India. The subsequent 2027 World Cup will be held jointly in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

History

Cricket World Cups

Year	Champions
1975	West Indies
1979	West Indies (2)
1983	India (3)
1987	Australia (4)
1992	Pakistan (5)
1996	Sri Lanka (6)
1999	Australia (7)
2003	Australia (8)
2007	Australia (9)
2011	India (10)
2015	Australia (11)
2019	England (12)
2023	Australia (13)

The first international cricket match was played between Canada and the United States, on 24 and 25 September 1844. However, the first credited Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England, and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years. South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889. Representative cricket teams were selected to tour each other, resulting in bilateral competition. Cricket was also included as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Games, where Great Britain defeated France to win the gold medal. This was the only appearance of cricket at the Summer Olympics.

The first multilateral competition at international level was the 1912 Triangular Tournament, a Test cricket tournament played in England between all three Test-playing nations at the time: England, Australia and South Africa. The event was not a success: the summer was exceptionally wet, making play difficult on damp uncovered pitches, and crowd attendances were poor, attributed to a "surfeit of cricket". Since then, international Test cricket has generally been organised as bilateral series: a multilateral Test tournament was not organised again until the triangular Asian Test Championship in 1999.

The number of nations playing Test cricket increased gradually over time, with the addition of West Indies in 1928, New Zealand in 1930, India in 1932, and Pakistan in 1952. However, international cricket continued to be played as bilateral Test matches over three, four or five days.

In the early 1960s, English county cricket teams began playing a shortened version of cricket which only lasted for one day. Starting in 1962 with a four-team knockout competition known as the Midlands Knock-Out Cup, and continuing with the inaugural Gillette Cup in 1963, one-day cricket grew in popularity in England. A national Sunday League was formed in 1969. The first One-Day International match was played on the fifth day of a rain-aborted Test match between England and Australia at Melbourne in 1971, to fill the time available and as compensation for the frustrated crowd. It was a forty over game with eight balls per over. The success and popularity of the domestic one-day competitions in England and other parts of the world, as well as the early One-Day Internationals, prompted the ICC to consider organizing a Cricket World Cup.

Prudential World Cups (1975–1983)

The Prudential Cup trophy

The inaugural Cricket World Cup was hosted in 1975 by England, the only nation able to put forward the resources to stage an event of such magnitude at the time. The first three tournaments were held in England and officially known as the Prudential Cup after the sponsors Prudential plc. The matches consisted of 60 six-ball overs per team, played during daytime in the traditional form, with the players wearing cricket whites and using red cricket balls.

Eight teams participated in the first tournament: Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the West Indies (the six Test nations at the time), together with Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa. One notable omission was South Africa, who were banned from international cricket due to apartheid. The tournament was won by the West Indies, who defeated Australia by 17 runs in the final at Lord's. Roy Fredricks of West Indies was the first batsmen who got hit-wicket in ODI during the 1975 World Cup final.

The 1979 World Cup saw the introduction of the ICC Trophy competition to select non-Test playing teams for the World Cup, with Sri Lanka and Canada qualifying. The West Indies won a second consecutive World Cup tournament, defeating the hosts England by 92 runs in the final. At a meeting which followed the World Cup, the International Cricket Conference agreed to make the competition a quadrennial event.

The 1983 event was hosted by England for a third consecutive time. By this stage, Sri Lanka had become a Test-playing nation, and Zimbabwe qualified through the ICC Trophy. A fielding circle was introduced, 30 yards (27 m) away from the stumps. Four fieldsmen needed to be inside it at all times. The teams faced each other twice, before moving into the knock-outs. India was crowned champions after upsetting the West Indies by 43 runs in the final.

Different champions (1987–1996)

India and Pakistan jointly hosted the 1987 tournament, the first time that the competition was held outside England. The games were reduced from 60 to 50 overs per innings, the current standard, because of the shorter daylight hours in the Indian subcontinent compared with England's summer. Australia won the championship by defeating England by 7 runs in the final, the closest margin in the World Cup final until the 2019 edition between England and New Zealand.

The 1992 World Cup, held in Australia and New Zealand, introduced many changes to the game, such as coloured clothing, white balls, day/night matches, and a change to the fielding restriction rules. The South African cricket team participated in the event for the first time, following the fall of the apartheid regime and the end of the international sports boycott. Pakistan overcame a dismal start in the tournament to eventually defeat England by 22 runs in the final and emerge as winners.

The 1996 championship was held in the Indian subcontinent for a second time, with the inclusion of Sri Lanka as host for some of its group stage matches. In the semi-final, Sri Lanka, heading towards a crushing victory over India at Eden Gardens after the hosts lost eight wickets while scoring 120 runs in pursuit of 252, were awarded victory by default after crowd unrest broke out in protest against the Indian performance. Sri Lanka went on to win their maiden championship by defeating Australia by seven wickets in the final at Lahore.

Australian treble (1999–2007)

In 1999, the event was hosted by England, with some matches also being held in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the Netherlands. Twelve teams contested the World Cup. Australia qualified for the semi-finals after reaching their target in their Super 6 match against South Africa off the final over of the match. They then proceeded to the final with a tied match in the semi-final also against South Africa where a mix-up between South African batsmen Lance Klusener and Allan Donald saw Donald drop his bat and stranded mid-pitch to be run out. In the final, Australia dismissed Pakistan for 132 and then reached the target in less than 20 overs and with eight wickets in hand.

A crowd of over 10,000 fans welcome the Australian team on completing the first World Cup hat-trick – Martin Place, Sydney.

South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya hosted the 2003 World Cup. The number of teams participating in the event increased from twelve to fourteen. Kenya's victories over Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, among others – and a forfeit by the New Zealand team, which refused to play in Kenya because of security concerns – enabled Kenya to reach the semi-finals, the best result by an associate. In the final, Australia made 359 runs for the loss of two wickets, the largest ever total in a final, defeating India by 125 runs.

In 2007, the tournament was hosted by the West Indies and expanded to sixteen teams. Following Pakistan's upset loss to World Cup debutants Ireland in the group stage, Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room. Jamaican police had initially launched a murder investigation into Woolmer's death but later confirmed that he died of heart failure. Australia defeated Sri Lanka in the final by 53 runs (D/L) in farcical light conditions, and extended their undefeated run in the World Cup to 29 matches and winning three straight championships.

Hosts triumph (2011–2019)

Autographed bat of the World Cup winning captains till 2015 at the Blades of Glory Museum, Pune, India

India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh together hosted the 2011 World Cup. Pakistan was stripped of its hosting rights following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009, with the games originally scheduled for Pakistan redistributed to the other host countries. The number of teams participating in the World Cup was reduced to fourteen. Australia lost their final group stage match against Pakistan on 19 March 2011, ending an unbeaten streak of 35 World Cup matches, which had begun on 23 May 1999. India won their second World Cup title by beating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where the Indian captain M.S. Dhoni along with the spinning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh chased 273 with notable performances from Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, making India the first country to win the World Cup at home. This was also the first time that two Asian countries faced each other in a World Cup Final.

Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted the 2015 World Cup. The number of participants remained at fourteen. Ireland was the most successful Associate nation with a total of three wins in the tournament. New Zealand beat South Africa in a thrilling first semi-final to qualify for their maiden World Cup final. Australia defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in the final at Melbourne to lift the World Cup for the fifth time.

England perform a lap of honour around Lord's after their victory on 14 July 2019.

The 2019 World Cup was hosted by England and Wales. The number of participants was reduced to 10. New Zealand defeated India in the first semi-final, which was pushed over to the reserve day due to rain. England defeated the defending champions, Australia, in the second semi-final. Neither finalist had previously won the World Cup. In the final, the scores were tied at 241 after 50 overs and the match went to a super over, after which the scores were again tied at 15. The World Cup was won by England, whose boundary count was greater than New Zealand's.

Australian resurgence (2023)

The 2023 Cricket World Cup was hosted by India. Ten teams participated, including The Netherlands, which returned to the tournament after a 12 year absence. The tournament was structured as a single group round-robin, with the top four advancing to the semi-final knockout stage. India were unbeaten in the group stage and defeated New Zealand to advance to the final; Australia lost twice during the group stage before defeating South Africa in the semi-finals. Afghanistan had their most successful World Cup, with four wins during the group stage, including over defending champions England; they also came close to defeating Australia before Glenn Maxwell's double century turned the match around. In the final, Australia defeated India by 6 wickets to win their sixth World Cup title.

Format

Qualification

From the first World Cup in 1975 up to the 2019 World Cup, the majority of teams taking part qualified automatically. Until the 2015 World Cup this was mostly through having Full Membership of the ICC, and for the 2019 World Cup this was mostly through ranking position in the ICC ODI Championship.

Since the second World Cup in 1979 up to the 2019 World Cup, the teams that qualified automatically were joined by a small number of others who qualified for the World Cup through the qualification process. The first qualifying tournament being the ICC Trophy; later the process expanding with pre-qualifying tournaments. For the 2011 World Cup, the ICC World Cricket League replaced the past pre-qualifying processes; and the name "ICC Trophy" was changed to "ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier". The World Cricket League was the qualification system provided to allow the Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC more opportunities to qualify. The number of teams qualifying varied throughout the years.

From the 2023 World Cup onwards, only the host nation(s) will qualify automatically. All countries will participate in a series of leagues to determine qualification, with automatic promotion and relegation between divisions from one World Cup cycle to the next.

Tournament

Autographs of the winning teams of each edition of the tournament at the Blades of Glory Cricket Museum, Pune, India.

The format of the Cricket World Cup has changed greatly over the course of its history. Each of the first four tournaments was played by eight teams, divided into two groups of four. The competition consisted of two stages, a group stage and a knock-out stage. The four teams in each group played each other in the round-robin group stage, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals played against each other in the final. With South Africa returning in the fifth tournament in 1992 as a result of the end of the apartheid boycott, nine teams played each other once in the group phase, and the top four teams progressed to the semi-finals. The tournament was further expanded in 1996, with two groups of six teams. The top four teams from each group progressed to quarter-finals and semi-finals.

A distinct format was used for the 1999 and 2003 World Cups. The teams were split into two pools, with the top three teams in each pool advancing to the Super 6. The Super 6 teams played the three other teams that advanced from the other group. As they advanced, the teams carried their points forward from previous matches against other teams advancing alongside them, giving them an incentive to perform well in the group stages. The top four teams from the Super 6 stage progressed to the semi-finals, with the winners playing in the final.

The captains of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

The format used in the 2007 World Cup involved 16 teams allocated into four groups of four. Within each group, the teams played each other in a round-robin format. Teams earned points for wins and half-points for ties. The top two teams from each group moved forward to the Super 8 round. The Super 8 teams played the other six teams that progressed from the different groups. Teams earned points in the same way as the group stage, but carried their points forward from previous matches against the other teams who qualified from the same group to the Super 8 stage. The top four teams from the Super 8 round advanced to the semi-finals, and the winners of the semi-finals played in the final.

The format used in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups featured two groups of seven teams, each playing in a round-robin format. The top four teams from each group proceeded to the knock out stage consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals and ultimately the final.

In the 2019 and 2023 editions of the tournament, the number of teams participating dropped to 10. Each team is scheduled to play against each other once in a round robin format, before entering the semifinals, a similar format to the 1992 World Cup. The 2027 and 2031 World Cups will have 14 teams, with the format same as the 2003 edition.

Summary of tournament formats
#	Year	Host(s)	Teams	Matches	Preliminary stage	Final stage
1	1975	England	8	15	2 groups of 4 teams: 12 matches	Knock-out of 4 teams (group winners and runners-up): 3 matches
2	1979
3	1983	England  Wales		27	2 groups of 4 teams: 24 matches
4	1987	India  Pakistan
5	1992	Australia  New Zealand	9	39	1 group of 9 teams: 36 matches	Knock-out of 4 teams (top 4 in group): 3 matches
6	1996	India  Pakistan  Sri Lanka	12	37	2 groups of 6 teams: 30 matches	Knock-out of 8 teams (top 4 in each group): 7 matches
7	1999	England  Ireland  Netherlands  Scotland  Wales		42	2 groups of 6 teams: 30 matches	Super Sixes (top 3 in each group): 9 matches Knock-out of 4 teams (top 4 in Super Sixes): 3 matches
8	2003	South Africa  Kenya  Zimbabwe	14	54	2 groups of 7 teams: 42 matches
9	2007	West Indies	16	51	4 groups of 4 teams: 24 matches	Super Eights (top 2 in each group): 24 matches Knock-out of 4 teams (top 4 in Super Eights): 3 matches
10	2011	India  Bangladesh  Sri Lanka	14	49	2 groups of 7 teams: 42 matches	Knock-out of 8 teams (top 4 in each group): 7 matches
11	2015	Australia  New Zealand
12	2019	England  Wales	10	48	1 group of 10 teams: 45 matches	Knock-out of 4 teams (top 4 in group): 3 matches
13	2023	India
14	2027	South Africa  Namibia  Zimbabwe	14	54	2 groups of 7 teams: 42 matches	Super Sixes (top 3 in each group): 9 matches Knock-out of 4 teams (top 4 in Super Sixes): 3 matches
15	2031	India  Bangladesh

Trophy

The Cricket World Cup Trophy.

The ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy is presented to the winners of the World Cup. The current trophy was created for the 1999 championships, and was the first permanent prize in the tournament's history. Prior to this, different trophies were made for each World Cup. The trophy was designed and produced in London by a team of craftsmen from Garrard & Co over a period of two months.

The current trophy is made from silver and gilt, and features a golden globe held up by three silver columns. The columns, shaped as stumps and bails, represent the three fundamental aspects of cricket: batting, bowling and fielding, while the globe characterises a cricket ball. The seam is tilted to symbolize the axial tilt of the Earth. It stands 60 centimetres (24 in) high and weighs approximately 11 kilograms (24 lb). The names of the previous winners are engraved on the base of the trophy, with space for a total of twenty inscriptions. The ICC keeps the original trophy. A replica differing only in the inscriptions is permanently awarded to the winning team.

Media coverage

The tournament is one of the world's most-viewed sporting events, and successive tournaments have generated increasing media attention as One-Day International cricket has become more established. The 2011 Cricket World Cup was televised in over 200 countries to over 2.2 billion viewers. Television rights, mainly for the 2011 and 2015 World Cup, were sold for over US$1.1 billion, and sponsorship rights were sold for a further US$500 million. The ICC claimed a total of 1.6 billion viewers for the 2019 World Cup as well as 4.6 billion views of digital video of the tournament. The most-watched match of the tournament was the group game between India and Pakistan, which was watched by more than 300 million people live.

Attendance

Selection of hosts

The International Cricket Council's executive committee votes for the hosts of the tournament after examining the bids made by the nations keen to hold a Cricket World Cup.

A civic centre lit up to mark the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa

England hosted the first three competitions. The ICC decided that England should host the first tournament because it was ready to devote the resources required to organising the inaugural event. India volunteered to host the third Cricket World Cup, but most ICC members preferred England as the longer period of daylight in England in June meant that a match could be completed in one day. The 1987 Cricket World Cup was held in India and Pakistan, the first hosted outside England.

Many of the tournaments have been jointly hosted by nations from the same geographical region, such as South Asia in 1987, 1996 and 2011, Australasia (in Australia and New Zealand) in 1992 and 2015, Southern Africa in 2003 and West Indies in 2007.

In November 2021, ICC published the name of the hosts for ICC events to be played between 2024 and 2031 cycle. The hosts for the 50-over World Cup along with T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy were selected through a competitive bidding process.

Results

Edition	Year	Host(s)	Final venue	Final
				Winners	Result	Runner-up
1	1975	England	Lord's, London	West Indies 291/8 (60 overs)	West Indies won by 17 runs (scorecard)	Australia 274 all out (58.4 overs)
2	1979	England	Lord's, London	West Indies 286/9 (60 overs)	West Indies won by 92 runs (scorecard)	England 194 all out (51 overs)
3	1983	England  Wales	Lord's, London	India 183 all out (54.4 overs)	India won by 43 runs (scorecard)	West Indies 140 all out (52 overs)
4	1987	India  Pakistan	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	Australia 253/5 (50 overs)	Australia won by 7 runs (scorecard)	England 246/8 (50 overs)
5	1992	Australia  New Zealand	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	Pakistan 249/6 (50 overs)	Pakistan won by 22 runs (scorecard)	England 227 all out (49.2 overs)
6	1996	Pakistan  India  Sri Lanka	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	Sri Lanka 245/3 (46.2 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets (scorecard)	Australia 241/7 (50 overs)
7	1999	England  Ireland  Scotland  Netherlands  Wales	Lord's, London	Australia 133/2 (20.1 overs)	Australia won by 8 wickets (scorecard)	Pakistan 132 all out (39 overs)
8	2003	South Africa  Zimbabwe  Kenya	Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	Australia 359/2 (50 overs)	Australia won by 125 runs (scorecard)	India 234 all out (39.2 overs)
9	2007	West Indies	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown	Australia 281/4 (38 overs)	Australia won by 53 runs (D/L) (scorecard)	Sri Lanka 215/8 (36 overs)
10	2011	India  Sri Lanka  Bangladesh	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	India 277/4 (48.2 overs)	India won by 6 wickets (scorecard)	Sri Lanka 274/6 (50 overs)
11	2015	Australia  New Zealand	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	Australia 186/3 (33.1 overs)	Australia won by 7 wickets (scorecard)	New Zealand 183 all out (45 overs)
12	2019	England  Wales	Lord's, London	England 241 all out (50 overs) 15/0 (super over) 24 fours, 2 sixes	Match Tied (England won on boundaries countback) (scorecard)	New Zealand 241/8 (50 overs) 15/1 (super over) 14 fours, 3 sixes
13	2023	India	Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad	Australia 241/4 (43 overs)	Australia won by 6 wickets (scorecard)	India 240 all out (50 overs)
14	2027	South Africa  Zimbabwe  Namibia

Tournament summary

Twenty nations have qualified for the Cricket World Cup at least once. Six teams have competed in every tournament, five of which have won the title. The West Indies won the first two tournaments, Australia has won six, India has won two, while Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England have each won once. The West Indies (1975 and 1979) and Australia (1999, 2003 and 2007) are the only teams to have won consecutive titles. Australia has played in eight of the thirteen finals (1975, 1987, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2023). New Zealand has yet to win the World Cup, but has been runners-up two times (2015 and 2019). The best result by a non-Test playing nation is the semi-final appearance by Kenya in the 2003 tournament; while the best result by a non-Test playing team on their debut is the Super 8 (second round) by Ireland in 2007.

Sri Lanka, as a co-host of the 1996 World Cup, was the first host to win the tournament, though the final was held in Pakistan. India won in 2011 as host and was the first team to win a final played in their own country. Australia and England repeated the feat in 2015 and 2019 respectively. Other than this, England made it to the final as a host in 1979. Other countries which have achieved or equalled their best World Cup results while co-hosting the tournament are New Zealand as finalists in 2015, Zimbabwe who reached the Super Six in 2003, and Kenya as semi-finalists in 2003. In 1987, co-hosts India and Pakistan both reached the semi-finals, but were eliminated by England and Australia respectively. Australia in 1992, England in 1999, South Africa in 2003, and Bangladesh in 2011 have been host teams that were eliminated in the first round.

Teams' performances

An overview of the teams' performances in every World Cup is given below. For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Host Team	1975 (8)	1979 (8)	1983 (8)	1987 (8)	1992 (9)	1996 (12)	1999 (12)	2003 (14)	2007 (16)	2011 (14)	2015 (14)	2019 (10)	2023 (10)	Apps.
Afghanistan											GP	10th	6th	3
Australia	RU	GP	GP	W	5th	RU	W	W	W	QF	W	SF	W	13
Bangladesh							GP	GP	7th	GP	QF	8th	8th	7
Bermuda									GP					1
Canada		GP						GP	GP	GP				4
England	SF	RU	SF	RU	RU	QF	GP	GP	5th	QF	GP	W	7th	13
India	GP	GP	W	SF	7th	SF	6th	RU	GP	W	SF	SF	RU	13
Ireland									8th	GP	GP			3
Kenya						GP	GP	SF	GP	GP				5
Namibia								GP						1
Netherlands						GP		GP	GP	GP			10th	5
New Zealand	SF	SF	GP	GP	SF	QF	SF	5th	SF	SF	RU	RU	SF	13
Pakistan	GP	SF	SF	SF	W	QF	RU	GP	GP	SF	QF	5th	5th	13
Scotland							GP		GP		GP			3
South Africa					SF	QF	SF	GP	SF	QF	SF	7th	SF	9
Sri Lanka	GP	GP	GP	GP	8th	W	GP	SF	RU	RU	QF	6th	9th	13
United Arab Emirates						GP					GP			2
West Indies	W	W	RU	GP	6th	SF	GP	GP	6th	QF	QF	9th		12
Zimbabwe			GP	GP	9th	GP	5th	6th	GP	GP	GP			9
Defunct teams
East Africa	GP													1

Legend

• W – Winner
• RU– Runner up
• SF– Semi-finals
• S6– Super Six (1999–2003)
• QF– Quarter-finals (1996, 2011–2015)
• S8– Super Eight (2007)
• GP – Group stage / First round
• Q – Qualified, Still in Competition

Debutant teams

Year	Teams	Total
1975	Australia,  East Africa,  England,  India,  New Zealand,  Pakistan,  West Indies,  Sri Lanka	8
1979	Canada	1
1983	Zimbabwe	1
1987	none	0
1992	South Africa	1
1996	Kenya,  Netherlands,  United Arab Emirates	3
1999	Bangladesh,  Scotland	2
2003	Namibia	1
2007	Bermuda,  Ireland	2
2011	none	0
2015	Afghanistan	1
2019	none	0
2023	none	0

Overview

The table below provides an overview of the performances of teams over past World Cups, as of the end of the 2023 tournament. Teams are ordered by best result then by appearances, then by winning percentage, then by total number of wins, total number of number of games, and then alphabetically:

	Statistics							Best performance
Team	Apps	Mat.	Won	Lost	Tie	NR	Win%*
Australia	13	105	78	25	1	1	75.48	Champions: 6 (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, 2023)
India	13	95	63	30	1	1	67.55	Champions: 2 (1983, 2011)
West Indies	12	80	43	35	0	2	55.12	Champions: 2 (1975, 1979)
England	13	93	52	39	1	1	57.14	Champions: 1 (2019)
Pakistan	13	88	49	37	0	2	56.97	Champions: 1 (1992)
Sri Lanka	13	89	40	46	1	2	46.55	Champions: 1 (1996)
New Zealand	13	99	59	38	1	1	60.71	Runners-up (2015, 2019)
South Africa	9	74	45	26	2	1	63.01	Semi-finals (1992, 1999, 2007, 2015, 2023)
Kenya	5	29	6	22	0	0	21.42	Semi-finals (2003)
Zimbabwe	9	57	11	42	1	3	21.29	Super 6s (1999, 2003)
Bangladesh	7	49	16	32	0	1	33.33	Quarter-finals (2015)
Ireland	3	21	7	13	1	0	35.71	Super 8s (2007)
Netherlands	5	29	4	25	0	0	13.79	Group Stage (1996, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2023)
Canada	4	18	2	16	0	0	11.11	Group Stage (1979, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Afghanistan	3	24	5	19	0	0	20.83	Group Stage (2015, 2019, 2023)
Scotland	3	14	0	14	0	0	0.00	Group Stage (1999, 2007, 2015)
United Arab Emirates	2	11	1	10	0	0	9.09	Group Stage (1996, 2015)
Namibia	1	6	0	6	0	0	0.00	Group Stage (2003)
Bermuda	1	3	0	3	0	0	0.00	Group Stage (2007)
Defunct teams
East Africa	1	3	0	3	0	0	0.00	Group Stage (1975)
Source: ESPNcricinfo

Note:

• The Win percentage excludes no results and counts ties as half a win.
• Teams are sorted by their best performance, then winning percentage, then (if equal) by alphabetical order.

Tournament records

Sachin Tendulkar, the leading run-scorer in World Cup history

Glenn McGrath the leading wicket-taker in World Cup history

World Cup records
Batting
Most runs	Sachin Tendulkar	2,278 (1992–2011)
Highest average (min. 10 inns.)	Lance Klusener	124.00 (1999–2003)
Highest batting strike rate (min. 500 balls faced)	Glenn Maxwell	160.32 (2015–2023)
Highest score	Martin Guptill v  West Indies	237* (2015)
Highest partnership	Chris Gayle & Marlon Samuels (2nd wicket) v  Zimbabwe	372 (2015)
Most runs in a single world cup	Virat Kohli	765 (2023)
Most hundreds	Rohit Sharma	7 (2015–2023)
Most hundreds in a single world cup	Rohit Sharma	5 (2019)
Bowling
Most wickets	Glenn McGrath	71 (1996–2007)
Lowest average (min. 400 balls bowled)	Mohammed Shami	13.52 (2015–2023)
Best strike rate (min. 20 wickets)	Mohammed Shami	15.81 (2015–2023)
Best economy rate (min. 1000 balls bowled)	Andy Roberts	3.24 (1975–1983)
Best bowling figures	Glenn McGrath v  Namibia	7/15 (2003)
Most wickets in a tournament	Mitchell Starc	27 (2019)
Fielding
Most dismissals (wicket-keeper)	Kumar Sangakkara	54 (2003–2015)
Most catches (fielder)	Ricky Ponting	28 (1996–2011)
Team
Highest score	South Africa v  Sri Lanka	428/5 (2023)
Lowest score	Canada v  Sri Lanka	36 (2003)
Highest win %	Australia	75.48% (Played 105, Won 78)
Most consecutive wins	Australia	27 (20 Jun 1999 – 19 Mar 2011, one N/R excluded)
Most consecutive tournament wins	Australia	3 (1999–2007)

By tournament

Year	Winning Captain	Player of the final	Player of the tournament	Most runs	Most wickets
1975	Clive Lloyd	Clive Lloyd	Not Awarded	Glenn Turner (333)	Gary Gilmour (11)
1979	Clive Lloyd	Viv Richards	Not Awarded	Gordon Greenidge (253)	Mike Hendrick (10)
1983	Kapil Dev	Mohinder Amarnath	Not Awarded	David Gower (384)	Roger Binny (18)
1987	Allan Border	David Boon	Not Awarded	Graham Gooch (471)	Craig McDermott (18)
1992	Imran Khan	Wasim Akram	Martin Crowe	Martin Crowe (456)	Wasim Akram (18)
1996	Arjuna Ranatunga	Aravinda de Silva	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sachin Tendulkar (523)	Anil Kumble (15)
1999	Steve Waugh	Shane Warne	Lance Klusener	Rahul Dravid (461)	Geoff Allott / Shane Warne (20)
2003	Ricky Ponting	Ricky Ponting	Sachin Tendulkar	Sachin Tendulkar (673)	Chaminda Vaas (23)
2007	Ricky Ponting	Adam Gilchrist	Glenn McGrath	Matthew Hayden (659)	Glenn McGrath (26)
2011	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Yuvraj Singh	Tillakaratne Dilshan (500)	Shahid Afridi / Zaheer Khan (21)
2015	Michael Clarke	James Faulkner	Mitchell Starc	Martin Guptill (547)	Mitchell Starc / Trent Boult (22)
2019	Eoin Morgan	Ben Stokes	Kane Williamson	Rohit Sharma (648)	Mitchell Starc (27)
2023	Pat Cummins	Travis Head	Virat Kohli	Virat Kohli (765)	Mohammed Shami (24)

See also

In Spanish: Copa Mundial de Críquet para niños

• ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup
• ICC T20 World Cup
• ICC Champions Trophy
• ICC World Test Championship
• 2023 Cricket World Cup
• Women's Cricket World Cup
• Asia Cup
• World Cup
• List of world cups