England, 1975
The 1975 Cricket World Cup was the first-ever Cricket World Cup tournament, officially called the Prudential Cup, and was held from June 7 to June 21, 1975 in England (see more in History). The final was played at the Lords ground, between West Indies and Australia, with the favorites the West Indies winning by 17 runs. The West Indies scored 291 runs in 60 overs at a loss of 8 wickets. In reply Australia made 274 runs in 58.4 overs all out. New Zealand and England were the other semifinalists.
Trivia
- The tournament was held in England as it was considered the only nation at the time that had the resources to stage an event of such magnitude.
- The matches played consisted of 60 overs per team.
- Unlike today, all players wore a traditional white uniform and red balls were used. There were also no night games.
- There were eight participating countries, comprising the six Test-playing teams at the time plus leading Associate nations Sri Lanka and, for the only time, East Africa. The team were:
- Australia
- England
- India
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- West Indies
- Sri Lanka
- East Africa (composed of players from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia)
- A notable omission from the tournament was the South African cricket team who were not competing due to the international sports boycott.
- The preliminary matches were played in 2 groups of 4 teams. The top two teams from each group played the semifinals, and the winners of these played the final.
- The opening match of the tournament featured a bizarre batting effort by India's Sunil Gavaskar. In reply to England scored 334/4, Gavaskar batted through the full 60 overs making only 36 not out.
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