World Cup Official Site
Cricket World Cup

ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP WEST INDIES 2007

Official website for the 2007 Cricket World Cup:

www.cricketworldcup.com

Click here to view cricket worldcup official travel packages and / or to book your flights to the 2007 Cricket World Cup

Click here to find tickets to various cricket matches

History

The Cricket WorldCup was first held in 1975 in England, with eight teams participating: Australia, England, the West Indies, Pakistan, India, and New Zealand (the six Test nations at the time), with Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa.

The first three tournaments were held in England. N. K. P. Salve, President of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) recounts the awarding of hosting rights for the 1987 WorldCup in his book The Story of the Reliance Cup. According to Salve, he was given two tickets for the 1983 World Cup final at Lord's. When India unexpectedly qualified for the final, he requested two additional tickets from the MCC for friends who had just arrived from India. The MCC refused his request. Following this rebuff, Salve campaigned heavily amongst associate members of the International Cricket Council to form a bloc of voters, who ultimately awarded the hosting of the 1987 World Cup jointly to India and Pakistan.

Since 1987, the hosting of the World Cup been shared by the major cricket playing regions of the world - England, the Indian subcontinent, Australasia, Southern Africa and the West Indies. The tournaments have been based mainly in the local superpowers, though matches are held in all regional cricketing nations.

The World Cup is held in high esteem amongst fans, players, and administrators. Unlike many of the myriad of one-day tournaments held around the world each year, the World Cup has been the scene of some of the major developments in the way one-day cricket is played.

Début of National Teams

• 1975 -  Australia,  East Africa^(1),  England  India, New Zealand,  Pakistan,  Sri Lanka,  West Indies

• 1979 -  Canada

• 1983 -  Zimbabwe

• 1992 -  South Africa

• 1996 -  Kenya,  Netherlands,  United Arab Emirates

• 1999 -  Bangladesh,  Scotland

• 2003 -  Namibia

• 2007 -  Bermuda,  Ireland

¹ The East African team no longer exists, but at the time represented the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

2007 Cricket World Cup

16 teams will contest the next Cricket World Cup finals to be held in the West Indies in Spring 2007.
These teams are the 10 Test cricket playing countries plus Kenya and the five qualifiers from the ICC Trophy held in Ireland in 2005: Scotland, Ireland, Bermuda, Canada, Netherlands.
The teams have been split into the following groups for the first round:

• Pool I: Australia, South Africa, Netherlands, Scotland

• Pool II: Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bermuda

• Pool III: New Zealand, England, Kenya, Canada

• Pool IV: West Indies, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Ireland

The two top teams in each group will progress to a round robin second stage ("Super Eight") which is followed by knockout semi-finals and final.

The venues are as follows:

Preliminary Round

• VENUE 1 (hosts Pakistan, West Indies's matches, plus Opening Ceremony and Opening Match): Jamaica

• VENUE 2 (hosts England's matches): St. Lucia

• VENUE 3 (hosts India's matches): Trinidad and Tobago

• VENUE 4 (hosts Australia's matches): St. Kitts and Nevis

Quarter-finals

• VENUE 5 (hosts three of the biggest Super Eight matches): Antigua and Barbuda

• VENUE 6 Grenada

• VENUE 7 Guyana

• VENUE 8 (hosts three of the biggest Super Eight matches): Barbados

Semi-finals

• Same as VENUE 1: Jamaica

• Same as VENUE 2: St. Lucia

Final

• Same as VENUE 8: Barbados

The mascot of the 2007 Cricket World Cup is an orange raccoon-like creature called Mello wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt over a white vest and blue sneakers leaning on a cricket bat. According to the organisers "he's fun and friendly, he's on the go, he's cool as they come ... he's Mello".