Cricket World Cup Trivia

The first recorded cricket international was played between the United States and Canada in September 1844.

Whilst the idea of an international cricket tournament predated the Cricket World Cup by half a century, a large-scale knockout competition was a logistical impossibility prior to the invention of One Day International cricket in 1971.

The original Cricket World Cup was not known as a ‘World Cup’, but was instead called the Prudential Cup. Many regard the 1992 tournament as the first ‘real’ Cricket World Cup, as it was the first tournament to feature South Africa.

One of the greatest innings in Cricket World Cup history, Kapil Dev’s 175 vs. Zimbabwe, was neither recorded nor broadcast, because the BBC cameramen were on strike at the time.

White cricket balls and coloured kits were not used until the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Prior to this tournament, teams had dressed in white and used red cricket balls.

Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar batted through the entire first innings of a match at the first Cricket World Cup, scoring 36 runs in 60 overs.

The first three Cricket World Cup tournaments were played in England, as it was believed that no other cricket-playing nation had the stadiums or infrastructure to host the tournament.

Viv Richards, the legendary West Indian batsman, played in both the Cricket and Football World Cups, representing Antigua in the Football World Cup.

Kepler Wessels played for Australia in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, before joining South Africa for the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

Herschel Gibbs became the first man in the history of One Day International cricket to hit six sixes in an over when he achieved this feat playing for South Africa against the Netherlands in 2007.

Only two centuries were scored at the 1979 Cricket World Cup, marking this as the lowest scoring tournament in Cricket World Cup history.

The Cricket World Cup has been played on every cricket playing continent, something that both the Football and Rugby World Cups are yet to achieve.

En route to winning the 2003 Cricket World Cup, Australia became only the second team in the history of World Cup Cricket to go unbeaten throughout an entire tournament after Sri Lanka (1996).

Australia is also the only country to win three consecutive Cricket World Cups. They won the tournament in 1999, 2003 and 2007.

Kenya set the record for the best performance by a non-test playing nation after reaching the semi-finals of the tournament in 2003.