Cricket World Cups and Trophies: Winners and Facts

Cricket questions in general knowledge papers are almost never about technique; they are about lists. An examiner wants to know whether you can name the winner of a particular World Cup, the ground where a final was played, the captain who lifted the cup or the person a domestic trophy is named after. This chapter puts those lists in one place. The world body that runs the game, the International Cricket Council, was founded in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference, became the International Cricket Conference in 1965 and took its present name in 1989; its headquarters moved to Dubai in 2005. The laws of cricket themselves are still framed by the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's, the ground called the home of cricket.

The men's One Day World Cup

The first World Cup was played in England in 1975 over 60 overs an innings, in white clothing with a red ball, and was sponsored as the Prudential Cup. West Indies won it and retained it in 1979. The tournament turned in 1983, when India beat West Indies in the final at Lord's under Kapil Dev, with Mohinder Amarnath named player of the match. The 1987 edition was the first held outside England, hosted by India and Pakistan as the Reliance Cup and shortened to 50 overs an innings, the format that has stayed ever since. The 1992 tournament in Australia and New Zealand brought coloured clothing, floodlit matches and the white ball, and Pakistan won it under Imran Khan. In 2011 India became the first country to win a World Cup final on home soil, beating Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai under M. S. Dhoni, with Yuvraj Singh the player of the tournament. The 2019 final at Lord's was tied and its Super Over was tied too, so England were declared champions on a boundary count.

The T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy

The first men's T20 World Cup was played in South Africa in 2007 and India won it, beating Pakistan in the final at Johannesburg under M. S. Dhoni. Pakistan won in 2009, England in 2010, West Indies in 2012 and 2016, Sri Lanka in 2014, Australia in 2021, England again in 2022 and India in 2024, when the final was played in Barbados. The Champions Trophy began in 1998 as the ICC KnockOut Trophy in Dhaka, where South Africa were the first winners; it took its present name in 2002, when rain left India and Sri Lanka joint champions. India won the tournament in 2013 and again in 2025, and Pakistan won it in 2017.

Women's cricket and the trophy itself

The Women's Cricket World Cup was first held in England in 1973, two years before the men's tournament, and England won it; Australia has since been the most successful side in both the one-day and the T20 competitions. The trophy handed to the men's one-day champions in its present design was made in 1999 by Garrard and Company of London: a golden globe, representing the ball, held up by three silver columns that stand for batting, bowling and fielding. The winners keep a replica and the original stays with the ICC.

India's domestic trophies

The names of domestic tournaments are asked as often as the World Cups. Learn them as a table of format and namesake.

Records worth memorising

Kapil Dev's 175 not out against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells in 1983 rescued India from 17 for 5 and remains the most quoted innings of that campaign. Chetan Sharma took the first hat-trick in World Cup history, against New Zealand in 1987. Sachin Tendulkar holds the records for the most runs in World Cups and the most in a single edition, 673 in 2003. Martin Guptill's 237 not out against West Indies in 2015 is the highest individual score in a World Cup match, and Glenn McGrath has the most wickets in the tournament's history. Australia is by far the most successful side, with titles in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2023, including three in a row.