Cricket lovers enjoyed cricket fantasy league 2019 during the world’s biggest cricket tournament, the World Cup, which was held in the UK recently. Every World Cup leaves fans with some memorable moments that they cherish for their entire life. Though the game of cricket has been played for centuries, the history of the Cricket World Cup started in 1975 in England. The seven Test-playing nations at the time competed in the first-ever World Cup, which was ultimately won by the West Indies at the Lord's Cricket Ground. The seven countries were India, England, Australia, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan.
It is interesting to know the history of World Cup, on which world cup fantasy cricket is based now. It is impossible for Indians to forget the moment when Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup trophy in 1983, and when Mahendra Singh Dhoni repeated that in 2011. A real Indian fantasy cricket fan will get goosebumps whenever they think of these glorious moments of Indian cricket.
Let us see what led to the starting of the Cricket World Cup.
In the year 1912, the three Test-playing Australia, England and South Africa nations played a tournament. The Imperial Cricket Council (later renamed International Cricket Conference and then International Cricket Council) proposed a triangular series between the Test-playing nations in 1909, and that's how the competition started. The proposal was to hold a tournament for all Test-playing nations every four years. For many reasons, the tournament was a failure. The summer of 1912 in England was the wettest as per the records since 1766. Rainfall in June, July and August was twice the annual average rainfall. And, August 1912 was the coldest, wettest and dullest August of the 20th century! The idea of holding the tournament was dropped because of adverse weather conditions, and it didn't happen until 1975.
The Prudential World Cup (1975–1983)
England was the only nation that was capable of hosting the World Cup from 1975 to 1983. Prudential Plc was the official sponsor of the first three editions of the World Cup, so the World Cup was named the Prudential World Cup. Each match consisted of 60 overs per innings with six balls per over. All matches were played during the daytime with a red ball and players wore whites.
Eight teams participated in the inaugural edition of the World Cup in 1975. The West Indies won the final defeating Australia by 17 runs at the Lord's Cricket Ground. Roy Fredericks of the West Indies became the first batsman to get out hit-wicket in an ODI, in the final of the first World Cup.
The West Indies won the Cricket World Cup for the second consecutive time in 1979 beating the hosts, England, by 92 runs in the final. During this World Cup, a decision to conduct the event every four years was made by the International Cricket Conference.
The 1983 Cricket World Cup is special for all Indians as we won this edition. India had been knocked out of the tournament at the group stage in the two previous World Cup editions. So India was underdogs in the 1983 edition. But the Kapil Dev-led team won the World Cup by defeating the two-time champions West Indies by 43 runs in the final. Fielding restrictions were introduced in this World Cup. Four fielders must stand inside the 30-yard circle at all the times during the match.
The Reliance World Cup (1987)
For the first time, the Cricket World Cup was held outside England. India and Pakistan jointly hosted the tournament. The ODI format was unchanged except for the reduction in the number of overs to be played by each team, from 60 to 50 overs.
Australia defeated England by 7 runs in a nail-biting final at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata to lift their first World Cup trophy.
The Benson and Hedges World Cup (1992)
Australia and New Zealand were the hosting countries for the fifth edition of the World Cup played in 1992. The tournament witnessed many firsts. Players wore colored uniform, and the red ball was replaced with a white ball. Black sightscreens were installed, and many a number of matches were played under floodlights. It was this World Cup that led to the creation of the Duckworth-Lewis method to decide rain-affected games.
Pakistan defeated England by 22 runs in the final played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia.
The Wills World Cup (1996)
Sponsored by Wills, the 1996 Cricket World Cup was co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Before the tournament began, Australia and the West Indies refused to send their teams to Sri Lanka, citing security reasons because of a bombing attack on the Central Bank in Colombo. As per the ICC cricket rules, Sri Lanka qualified for the quarterfinals directly without playing even a single game.
Sri Lanka, led by Arjun Ranatunga, won the Wills World Cup by defeating Australia by 7 wickets in the final.
The ICC Cricket World Cup (1999 onwards)
Since 1999 Cricket World Cup, the cricket's governing body, International Cricket Council, has been organizing the tournament on its own without any sponsorship.
The seventh edition of the World Cup was co-hosted by England, Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands and Wales in 1999. Australia won their second World Cup beating Pakistan in the final at the Lord's Cricket Ground, England.
The current World Cup trophy is the first permanent prize in World Cup history. It was designed and produced in London by a team of designers from Garrad, the Crown Jewellers, in two months.
The World Cup trophy weighs approximately 11 kilograms and is 65 cm tall. It is made of silver and gold and has a golden globe held up by three columns made of silver. The silver columns, which looks like stumps and bails, represent the basic features of cricket such as batting, bowling and fielding, whereas the golden globe represents the world and the cricket ball. The trophy is designed in such a way that it can be recognized from all the angles.
The actual trophy is kept by the International Cricket Council (ICC), and a replica of the trophy is presented to the team that wins the World Cup.
For Indian cricket fans, who not only enjoy watching the cricket battle but also put their heart and soul into it, fantasy cricket world cup is great entertainment. That is why in India fantasy cricket reached its peak during the World Cup.
