The World Cup of Cricket is undoubtedly the biggest championship in the game of cricket. Held in every four years' interval, the World Cup gives all the test playing nations a chance to play each other in a fiercely competitive environment. As it is, the format of other international championships does not allow more than four nations to participate. The commonest of formats include two-nation tournaments, triangular series and quadrangular series. Only the Cricket World Cup offers all the test and ODI playing countries an opportunity to prove their mettle. For many nations, this opportunity is a dream come true. Statistics show that so far 19 countries have participated at least once in the World Cup. While the ten test playing countries qualify automatically, the associate members need to go through the preliminary qualifying rounds. In almost every edition of the World Cup of Cricket, a few new countries have got a chance to rub shoulders with their big brothers including the Australia World Cup team. While Kenya featured impressively in the 1996 World Cup held in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it was Ireland who turned the table on big teams in the 2007 edition in the Caribbean Islands.
Talking of impressive performances and the name of the Australian World Cup team has to come to the forefront. The Australia World Cup team has time and again proved their critics wrong when it mattered most. First participating in the maiden edition of the World Cup held in 1975, Australia has never missed out on any of the editions. Their performance was satisfactory but not good enough to fetch them the coveted title of the World Champions. Until the year 1987 Australia World Cup team was going through a rebuilding procedure, following the retirement of quite a few key players. This had an impact on the overall performance of the team in the World Cups. But the Australian cricket authority had some longterm goals and they did not bother too much about the poor performance of the Australia World Cup team at that period of time. The efforts and hard work put in by all and sundry associated with Cricket Australia yielded rich dividend in the 1987 Cricket World Cup held in the Indian subcontinent. They played in an outstanding fashion right throughout the tournament and became the world champion for the first time in their cricketing history. They defeated England in the final held at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This win for the Australia World Cup team marked the beginning of a journey which now seems to be an unending one on the path of glory.
The World Cup team of Australia in 1996 was a formidable one. It consisted of veteran players as well as young bloods. Yet a spirited Sri Lankan side under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga overpowered them in the final in Lahore. Following this humiliating loss, the Australian World Cup team went back to the basics to sort things out. They came with renewed vigor and energy in the next ICC World Cup in 1999. Played on the English soil, this World Cup saw many events that has made it to the cricketing folklore. Australia started their World Cup winning streak from this very edition and till date, they are going great guns.
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