From West Indies dominance in the 70s through to India's win four years ago
Tuesday 13 January 2015 14:19, UK
To whet your appetite for the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, here's everything you need to know from the tournament's history...
(1975 World Cup. Hosts: England)
One-day cricket, and particularly the West Indies, captured the imagination in the first World Cup. The Windies swept to glory at Lord's with Clive Lloyd hitting a memorable century in a thrilling final against Australia, winning by just 17 runs. The men from the Caribbean were formidable throughout the tournament, despite an early scare against Pakistan. But other teams had difficulty adapting to the shortened game, specifically India, with Sunil Gavaskar batting 60 overs for an unbeaten 36 against England.
(1979 World Cup. Hosts: England)
Australia were weakened for the second tournament having omitted all of their players involved in the rival World Series Cricket. The West Indies selected their WSC players and bulldozed their way to an impressive title defence. With a powerful pace attack and outstanding batsmen in Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge, the West Indies were again dominant. England faced them in the final but were set a stiff target of 287 to win after a brilliant unbeaten 138 from Richards. Joel Garner's five-wicket burst saw them collapse to defeat by 92 runs.
(1983 World Cup. Hosts: England)
India finally woke up to one-day cricket - with a young Sachin Tendulkar watching - as a Kapil Dev-inspired side pulled off an unexpected victory. India crept through the tournament and saw off a below-par England to reach the final. Their opponents were, as expected, a fearsome West Indies side. But the expected mismatch did not happen, even though India were bowled out for 183. Mohinder Amarnath and Madan Lal proved too much to handle, taking three wickets each as India's 43-run win went down as one of the great upsets.
(1987 World Cup. Hosts: India and Pakistan)
The party went flat in the first World Cup to be held in Asia as both hosts fell at the semi-final stage. That left England and Australia to contest the main prize at the vast Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In what proved a sign of things to come, Australia emerged victorious under the astute guidance of Allan Border. England still had plenty of time to chase their attainable target of 254 after captain Mike Gatting's infamously faulty reverse sweep, but they never recovered momentum and the Aussies held on to win by seven runs.
(1992 World Cup. Hosts: Australia and New Zealand)
Australia and New Zealand took World Cup cricket to a different level as they hosted a superb tournament, the first to feature white balls, coloured clothing and floodlights. The rain rules proved controversial, however, as South Africa - featuring for the first time after international isolation - were infamously beaten in the semi-finals by England after their target was revised to such an extent that it became impossible. England were actually the strongest team and they largely cruised through to the final but they finished as runners-up for the third time, losing by 22 runs to an Imran Khan-inspired Pakistan who peaked at the right time.
(1996 World Cup. Hosts: India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka began the second World Cup held on the subcontinent as dark horses but their exciting and highly successful approach made them hugely popular champions by the end of it. Arjuna Ranatunga's side transformed one-day batting, exploiting new fielding restrictions to play the first 15 overs like the last, bringing the term of 'pinch-hitting' into common use. Sanath Jayasuriya was the chief exponent, savaging attacks throughout, but it was Aravinda da Silva who did the damage in the final, hitting a magnificent unbeaten 107 in a seven-wicket win over Australia.
(1999 World Cup. Hosts: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Netherlands)
The dismal performance of hosts England, a confusing new Super Six stage and Australia's one-sided eight-wicket win over Pakistan in the final didn’t help the tournament. But there were some fine games along the way including Australia coming back from a position of near elimination to beat South Africa in the semi-final, where Allan Donald forgot his bat in an incredible final-wicket run-out. And there were some shock results to match the shocking kits on show, Zimbabwe beating India and South Africa, and Bangladesh beating Pakistan.
(2003 World Cup. Hosts: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya)
Australia powered to an easy title defence in a tournament that was considered too long at six weeks. The opening weeks were overshadowed by political issues concerning co-hosts Zimbabwe and a drugs ban for Australia hero Shane Warne. Hosts South Africa were eliminated after a farcical misreading of the rain rules, England were again poor and Kenya surprised many to reach the semi-finals. But Australia maintained the world order with a crushing win over India in the final, Ricky Ponting hitting a brilliant unbeaten 140 in a 125-run win.
(2007 World Cup. Hosts: West Indies)
This World Cup was arguably the worst – a tournament billed as a carnival of cricket which proved anything but. The Caribbean event was massively overshadowed by the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, who was initially thought to have been murdered. And crowds were poor due to overpriced tickets. Australia and Sri Lanka set up a potentially brilliant final - and a stunning 149 from Adam Gilchrist threatened to make it so - but the ending summed up the whole fiasco. Australia celebrated victory by Duckworth/Lewis as they were taken off for bad light, only to be brought back on later in near darkness. Confusion reigned until they were declared winners by 53 runs, their third World Cup in a row.
(2011 World Cup. Hosts: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh)
A resounding success of a tournament. It was written in the script that India as hosts would win in front of their loyal, and incredibly vocal, home fans. It was also fitting that their triumph in the final came against co-hosts Sri Lanka, winning by six wickets. The one thing the script writers got wrong was Sachin Tendulkar scoring only 18 on his final World Cup appearance. There were more thrills and spills in the group stages too – Kevin O’Brien scoring the fastest World Cup hundred, pummelling England’s attack for 113 as Ireland chased down 327 to cause one of the biggest cricketing upsets of all time.
