The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is the premier international championship of men one day international cricket. Organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the event is held every four years.

* The first tournament was held in England in 1975 and the first three events were known as the Prudential Cup after the sponsors.

* Eight teams participated in the first tournament: Australia, England, West Indies, New Zealand, India and Pakistan (the six pilot countries at the time), along with Sri Lanka and a team of East Africa. Winners were the West Indies, who beat Australia in the final of the Lord.

* The ICC Trophy was first introduced in 1979 with the first non-Test playing teams to Sri Lanka and Canada qualifying. The West Indies won his second consecutive World Cup tournament, defeating the hosts, England by 92 runs in the final. It was then decided to do the event every four years.

* The 1987 tournament was the first to be held outside England and was welcomed by India and Pakistan and was eventually won by Australia who beat England in the final by just 7 runs, the smallest margin so far.

* South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya hosted the 2003 event. The number of teams participating in the event of further twelve to fourteen.

* The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the tenth and the competition will be organized by three of South Asia cricket Test playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The Cricket World Cup is now a major global sporting event, held very four years as the World Cup and Olympics. Although it may not be as popular as the two events, the finals of Cricket has grown into a media event with each tournament and may be that millions of fans around the world will be glued to the action.