History of the ICC Cricket World Cup
[2] From then on, international Test cricket teams only generally engaged in bilateral series as opposed to tournaments or leagues involving more than two nations.
[5] The Men's Cricket World Cup was first held in 1975 in England, which was the only nation that was able to put forward the resources to stage an event of such magnitude.
One notable omission was the South African cricket team who were not competing due to the international sports boycott.
At their meeting which followed the World Cup, the International Cricket Conference agreed to make the competition a four-yearly event.
The games were reduced from 60 to 50 overs per innings, the current standard, because of the shorter daylight hours on the subcontinent when compared to England.
Australia won the championship by defeating England by 7 runs, the closest margin in World Cup final history until 2019.
The 1992 Cricket World Cup held by Australia and New Zealand brought many changes to the game such as coloured clothing, white balls, day/night matches and an alteration to the fielding restrictions.
Referred as the 'Cornered Tigers' at the time, Pakistan overcame a dismal start to emerge as winners, defeating England by 22 runs in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
[8] The 1996 championship was held in the Indian subcontinent for the second time, with the inclusion of Sri Lanka as host of some of its group stage matches.
It occurred behind the backdrop of political upheaval in world cricket, after a spiteful Sri Lankan tour of Australia in 1995/96.
After the no-balling of Sri Lankan off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan by Darrell Hair in a Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the tour ended in a spiteful ODI final in Sydney which saw physical contact between Glenn McGrath and Sanath Jayasuriya, and the refusal of the Sri Lankans to shake hands at the end of the match.
The Australian led boycott drew heavy criticism from subcontinental cricket officials, with former Indian captain Kapil Dev calling for Australia to be expelled.
On the field, the abrasive and dry subcontinent surfaces resulted in batting conditions being optimal early in the innings before the ball became softer and more difficult to strike.
After Pakistani captain Wasim Akram withdrew due to injury, Ajay Jadeja struck 40 from the last two overs from Waqar Younis, setting Pakistan a target of 288.
After falling 39 runs short, the Government of Pakistan launched an inquiry into the performance, after angry protests by the public which left one person dead, and accusations of match-fixing were levelled at Wasim.
In the other quarter finals, Australia and Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand and England respectively, while South Africa, who were previously undefeated, were upset by the West Indies.
In the other semi-final in Mohali, Australia defeated the West Indies after the Caribbean team lost their last seven wickets for 29 runs in their run-chase.
Sri Lanka went on to claim their inaugural championship by defeating the favourites Australia in the final by seven wickets, held in Lahore.
South Africa needed nine runs from the final over with one wicket remaining, with man of the tournament Lance Klusener on strike.
Kenya's victories against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, among others, along with New Zealand's forfeit helped them get a Semi-final berth against India, the best result by an associate.
[11] Following their defeat to Ireland, the Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room; contrasting reports from different sources say that he was either murdered or died of natural causes.
The Super Six qualifiers also carried forward one point for each win in the group stage against non-qualifiers, a complexity which was dropped for the next world cup.
