Cricket is one of the most popular outdoor sports in the world. Although the number of Cricket playing nations is significantly lesser than that of the soccer playing countries, Cricket still remains one of the most followed sports, especially in the Indian subcontinent. Numerous international tournaments are arranged all around the world throughout the year. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body of Cricket. All the new rules and regulations are approved by the ICC before they take effect. The rules and stipulations encompass a broad array of cricketing aspects, including playing conditions, code of conduct for players as well as match officials and so on. The World Cup Cricket is by far the biggest event organized by the ICC. Held in every four years’ interval, the World Cup Cricket typically refers to the men’s One Day International (ODI) tournament. Any given edition of the Cricket World Cup is considered to be the most coveted of all championships. Unlike soccer, all the Cricket playing nations do not often get a chance to play each other in a major tournament. The ICC Cricket World Cup gives all the teams an opportunity to fight it out on the international arena.
The maiden edition of the World Cup Cricket was held not very long ago in 1975. Coincidentally, this event was held exactly in the centenary year of the first official test match ever played in the history of Cricket. It took a lot of time for the World Cup Cricket to gain popularity and acceptance. This was mainly because of the puritanical approach to Cricket which was prevalent in those days. The Cricket pundits could not relate themselves to the swashbuckling and hard-hitting shorter version of the game. They were more accustomed with the longer and classy version of the game known as Test Match Cricket. Later on when Kerry Packer introduced the World Series Cricket, the conflict between Test Match Cricket and the One Day Internationals became much prominent and resulted in a widespread debate worldwide.
Today, all the test playing nations and a few associate members of the ICC participate in the World Cup of Cricket. The smaller countries in terms of cricketing skill and heritage have to go through the qualifying matches that are held prior to the commencement of the World Cup Cricket.
Till date, Australia enjoys the distinction of being the most successful team in the history of World Cup Cricket. They have won the prestigious trophy four times, including three consecutive championship titles from 1999 to 2007. Next down the list comes the West Indian team with two titles won in back to back editions of the World Cup Cricket, in 1975 and 1979. Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka have won the finals just once.
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