A brief history of cricket World Cups(part1)Posted By: Category:
A brief history of cricket World Cups (part 1)
The first international cricket match
The first ever international cricket match was played in 1844, between Canada and USA, in New York, with the former winning, but both countries seem alien to the game at this point of time.
However, the first recognized Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England and since then the game has flourished.
First multi-lateral tournament
It was the year 1912 when England hosted the first-ever multilateral Test-match tournament. The only three Test playing nations back then, England, Australia and South Africa, took part in the competition.
Excess rain and cricket turned the competition into a disaster and no such attempt was made for another 87 years. The second Test match tournament took place in Asia in 1999.
Cricket continued to be played on bilateral terms and with the increase in Test playing-nations, the popularity of the sport was gradually declining because of the one dimensional nature of the game.
The dawn of One Day cricket
The pioneers of One Day cricket were the English counties. They came up with a shorter format of the game that lasted for a single day.
In 1971, a rain affected Test match between England and Australia, led to the inauguration of the first One Day International (ODI) match in the history of cricket.
It was nature that intervened, the Test match was abandoned due to rain and to compensate the disappointed audience the cricketing body came up with the idea to hold a One Day 40 over match in the time available on the fifth day.
Although the idea of holding a multi-lateral Test championship flopped, the growing popularity of One Day cricket all around the world incited ICC to hold a multinational cricketing event.
The first Cricket World Cup 1975
The first Cricket World cup took place in 1975. England hosted the event. The six Test playing nations, namely, England, West-Indies, Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand, along with Sri Lanka and a team from East Africa took part in the event.
The rules of the game were pretty much the same, except each team was given 60 overs to play, instead of 50 overs.
All games were played in daylight and the same red ball was used in all matches.
The teams were divided into two groups and the two top teams from each group were supposed to play each other in the final qualifiers.
With only 18 international One Day matches played before the World Cup the new format was still a mystery for some, who thought of the game as a cut-off version of Test cricket.
India went for a draw in the first game they played and played out their overs rather than chasing the target down.
The group-stage
In the 1975 World Cup, West Indies was considered the strongest contender for the title but in the early stages it was England, who ran through their opponents.
The Windies barely escaped a loss at the hands of Pakistan as the latter came close to pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament.
However, they were rescued by Murray and Roberts, who scored a winning 64 run partnership for the last wicket to save the match.
The semi finals
West Indies cruised past Australia in the group matches and hammered New Zealand in the semis to get to the final.
Australia on the other hand were well on their way home when England made an amazing come back in the face of a batting collapse, the Aussies found themselves lurching at 39 for six when chasing a meagre total of 93.
Earlier in the match, Gary Gilmour, bowled the spell of his life, taking six English wickets for just 14 runs, which led to England’s collapse, but Gilmour himself along with Doug Walters made sure Australia didn’t suffer the same fate. The two guided their team home to secure a spot in the finals.
(To be continued...)
The first international cricket match
The first ever international cricket match was played in 1844, between Canada and USA, in New York, with the former winning, but both countries seem alien to the game at this point of time.
However, the first recognized Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England and since then the game has flourished.
First multi-lateral tournament
It was the year 1912 when England hosted the first-ever multilateral Test-match tournament. The only three Test playing nations back then, England, Australia and South Africa, took part in the competition.
Excess rain and cricket turned the competition into a disaster and no such attempt was made for another 87 years. The second Test match tournament took place in Asia in 1999.
Cricket continued to be played on bilateral terms and with the increase in Test playing-nations, the popularity of the sport was gradually declining because of the one dimensional nature of the game.
The dawn of One Day cricket
The pioneers of One Day cricket were the English counties. They came up with a shorter format of the game that lasted for a single day.
In 1971, a rain affected Test match between England and Australia, led to the inauguration of the first One Day International (ODI) match in the history of cricket.
It was nature that intervened, the Test match was abandoned due to rain and to compensate the disappointed audience the cricketing body came up with the idea to hold a One Day 40 over match in the time available on the fifth day.
Although the idea of holding a multi-lateral Test championship flopped, the growing popularity of One Day cricket all around the world incited ICC to hold a multinational cricketing event.
The first Cricket World Cup 1975
The first Cricket World cup took place in 1975. England hosted the event. The six Test playing nations, namely, England, West-Indies, Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand, along with Sri Lanka and a team from East Africa took part in the event.
The rules of the game were pretty much the same, except each team was given 60 overs to play, instead of 50 overs.
All games were played in daylight and the same red ball was used in all matches.
The teams were divided into two groups and the two top teams from each group were supposed to play each other in the final qualifiers.
With only 18 international One Day matches played before the World Cup the new format was still a mystery for some, who thought of the game as a cut-off version of Test cricket.
India went for a draw in the first game they played and played out their overs rather than chasing the target down.
The group-stage
In the 1975 World Cup, West Indies was considered the strongest contender for the title but in the early stages it was England, who ran through their opponents.
The Windies barely escaped a loss at the hands of Pakistan as the latter came close to pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament.
However, they were rescued by Murray and Roberts, who scored a winning 64 run partnership for the last wicket to save the match.
The semi finals
West Indies cruised past Australia in the group matches and hammered New Zealand in the semis to get to the final.
Australia on the other hand were well on their way home when England made an amazing come back in the face of a batting collapse, the Aussies found themselves lurching at 39 for six when chasing a meagre total of 93.
Earlier in the match, Gary Gilmour, bowled the spell of his life, taking six English wickets for just 14 runs, which led to England’s collapse, but Gilmour himself along with Doug Walters made sure Australia didn’t suffer the same fate. The two guided their team home to secure a spot in the finals.
(To be continued...)
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