Cricket is practically like a festival in India. Millions of people look forward to cricket tournaments like the world cup or the IPL each year. Whether it is ODI, test matches or the thrilling T20 format tour, the journey for cricketers is practically the same. As the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is currently being hosted in India, it is actually a good idea to check out some of the most fascinating and interesting facts about the tournament. The World Cup of any sport has its own set of drama every season. If you are a true cricket fan then you will also enjoy the drama, the records and the other factors that make the tournament as interesting as it can be.
Although there are several interesting facts about the world cup of cricket that is held every four years, some facts are completely different and surprising to know about. It's kind of a trivia that is really going to make your head spin. Some of the lesser known facts about the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup are enlisted as follows:
1. The first Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup was inaugurated in 1975 which is often considered to be the first ever world cup in cricket. But this is not actually true. In England, the inaugural of the Women’s World Cup had already taken place in 1973 which means that the World Cup of men came 2 years later than women. So, when you look back at the men’s cricket world cup, you would know that women started competing first even if women cricket is not given as much importance.
2. The second fact that you would love to know is about the location of the World Cup. For the first three years, the Cricket World Cup was only held in England. It was actually in 1987 that the location of the World Cup was changed to another country. After that year’s world cup, the world cup is now held in different locations each time.
3. In 1992, the world cup saw some significant changes. Earlier, all the players were required to wear only white coloured jerseys or dresses. That year brought changes to the colours and the teams were allowed to pick one colour representing their country. Today, the white jerseys are only worn in test matches but in other formats, the teams are given the liberty to pick their colour of choice. The cricket ball was also made white and the ODI format saw that matches could be played day-night.
4. In 1983, another historic change was made to the one-day cricket format matches. Until this year, the ODI format had 60 over innings that were played by each side. It means that every team was required to play for 60 overs in one go - once for batting and once for bowling. But after this year, the format was changed to 50 over matches in ODI cricket. India is the only team to have won a world cup in both the formats of ODI cricket in the world cup as well.
5. The fifth interesting fact about the Cricket World Cup is that the Australian cricket team is the only country to have won 5 world cup titles until now. They are also the only team to have won three Cricket World Cups in a row - 1999, 2003 and 2007. Up until this point, the Australian cricket team was considered to be a team to be feared and a force to be reckoned with. The other teams thought it was too difficult to beat them at the game. Before 2007, the West Indies cricket team held the record for winning two world cup titles in a row but in that year, Australia made history with this hat trick and broke the record set by the West Indies team. Under the leadership of Clive Lloyd, West Indies had won the world cup titles of 1975 and 1979.
6. The 2023 World Cup is the first ODI World Cup in which the West Indies is not taking a part. The West Indies cricket team was considered to be the powerhouse of cricket in the history of the game. It has produced some of the greatest players that the world has ever seen. Some of the World Cup records are still reserved in the name of the West Indies cricket team. But this year, the team failed to qualify for the Cricket World Cup when they lost the match to Scotland.
7. In the qualification process of 2023 ODI world cup, a total of 32 teams participated in it with the conviction that they can make it to the top 10 who would fight tooth and nail to bring glory to their country in cricket. It took three years for all the teams to engage in the different matches and qualify for the top 10. For the expert teams like India, Australia, England etc., the qualifier matches are a cake walk. However, for the other teams, the process is very tough and rigorous. The competition among the teams is very high. From some prominent names in the cricket world cup, Sri Lanka and Netherlands were the only two teams who were able to qualify for the top 10.
Apart from the aforementioned facts, there are several other interesting pieces of information about the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup that you cannot miss. In 1999, the rule of one permanent trophy was introduced. No team gets a new trophy each time they win. In fact, there is one single trophy that is given to the winning team every four years. Earlier, a new trophy was made for every new world cup but now there is only one. This makes the ODI cricket world cup all the more special for the cricket teams. The replica of the 1999 trophy was made to give it to the winning teams. Lastly, as the qualifier matches take a lot of time, this is the very reason that the cricket world cup is only played once in four years.
Disclaimer: The above is a contributor post, the views expressed are those of the contributor and do not represent the stand and views of Outlook Editorial
