Cricket World Cup

The world cup of cricket is the premier international championship of (generally) men's one-day international cricket game. This exciting event is organized by the governing body of cricket known as ICC - International Cricket Council. The championship is held in various parts of the world with full government support and supports from national and international cricket board. The board decides the qualification of teams from different countries on basis of certain rules and regulations.

World Cup - The history and events

The first ever cricket match was played between Canada and United States in September 1844. However, the first credited Test Match was played in the year of 1877 between England and Australia. Cricket was also included in 1900 Paris Games as an Olympic sport in which, the Great Britain defeated France and won the gold medal. On the initial stages, there were very few cricket playing teams but eventually many nations start taking participation with the addition of West Indies in 1928, New Zealand in 1930, India in 1932 and Pakistan in 1952.

In the early 1960s, English county cricket started playing shortened versions of cricket that used to last only one day. The Midlands Knock-Out Cup, in the year of 1962 was held with four-team knockout competition but the first one-day international was played on the fifth day of a match between Australia and England at Melbourne in the year of 1971, a match that was aborted by rain. It was a forty over match with eight ball per over. This was the time when that game gained popularity and it went on and on.

The prudential world cup began in the year of 1972, hosted in England. The first three events were known as prudential cup after the sponsor Prudential plc. They were played in white uniforms and with red cricket leather balls. Eight teams were playing (India, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, England and West Indies). The noticeable even was banning of the team South Africa due to apartheid. The tournament was however won by West Indies defeating Australia by 17 runs in the final at Lord's Ground.

The event is regularly held four yearly and till today, Australia has been the most successful team winning the title/trophy for three consecutive times. West Indies won twice, while India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have each won once. The latest world cup was held from 13th March to 28th April, in the West Indies. Australia beating Sri Lanka and winning world-cup for the third time recorded as hat-trick in the whole history of cricket.

World Cup - the trophy and importance

The trophy is awarded to the winners in final of the whole tournament. The current trophy was made for 1999 championship and was the first permanent prize in the history of the tournament as before that, different trophies were made for each World cup event. The current trophy is made up of sliver and gild. The trophy features a golden globe held up by three silver columns. All these columns represent fundamental aspects of cricket - batting, bowling and fielding and the globe represents the ball of cricket. The trophy is 60 cm in height and weighing about 11 kilograms.

Apart from the game, the tournament has entered in the filed of revenue generation. The television rights are sold at amazingly higher prizes. The telecast is in over 200 countries with 2.2 billion viewers. For the 2011 and 2015 World Cup were sold for over US$1.1 billion and sponsorship rights for the same crosses US$500 billion!