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| Will it be the home team for the third time running on 14th July at Lord's. |
The Cup travels back to the United Kingdom
after two decades. It was here in 1999 that the ICC Trophy was unveiled for the
first time. It was here that the tournament began in 1975 as the Prudential
World Cup. England was deemed to be the home of cricket, a natural venue with
long hours of daylight in their summer months and several top quality grounds
situated close to each other. So the second and third editions of the marquee
event in 1979 and 1983 were also held here as 60-overs-a-side games, and
continued to be sponsored by Prudential Assurance Company. That was until India
stunned the overwhelming favourites and twice champions West Indies in the 1983
final at Lord’s.
Thus started the global odyssey of the World
Cup. The 1987 tournament was staged in India, and Pakistan, sponsored by
Reliance Industries, now limited to 50-overs-a-side. Not only were the two
hosts the sentimental favourites, it seemed a foregone conclusion that they
would meet in the final at Calcutta (now Kolkata). In fact there was frenzied
anticipation of this dream encounter. As it happened, it was the Ashes rivals
that clashed on that day, and a rejuvenated Australian side lifted the Reliance
World Cup by a narrow margin.
Things were never to be the same again. It was
Australia’s chance to host the showpiece contest in 1992 along with New
Zealand, now backed by Benson & Hedges. Modernisation of the game was
complete with coloured clothing, white balls, black sightscreens and day-night matches.
England, having a wonderful run, were in their second successive final, but it
was Pakistan that came from behind and lifted the crystal trophy. The
tournament was back in the sub-continent in 1996, with Sri Lanka not only
staging a few matches but also wresting the exquisite Wills Cup at Lahore,
thereby announcing their arrival on the big stage. Australia had to rest
content with the runners-up prize.
That,
though, was the beginning of the ascent of the Aussies to the pinnacle. It was
Great Britain’s turn to run the show once again in 1999. The days of
sponsorship of the trophy were over, and a permanent ICC Trophy was unveiled.
Australia, on the verge of elimination not once but twice, ran away with the
one-sided final against Pakistan. They were now irresistible in the World Cup,
scoring a hat-trick with title triumphs in 2003 in Southern Africa, and in 2007
in the West Indies, with India and Sri Lanka respectively finishing
second-best. The peerless Australians won all their matches in both these
tournaments, and indeed extended their winning streak in the World Cup to 25
matches, and unbeaten run to 34 games, beginning in 1999 and extending to 2011.
It was in 2011, the tenth edition of the
tournament, that India became the first team to win the Cup on home soil at
Mumbai, upstaging Sri Lanka who also joined in staging of the mega event along
with Bangladesh. India’s feat was replicated by Australia in 2015 as they
trounced co-hosts New Zealand at Melbourne.
The process of qualifying for the next
tournament began as far back as 2013, with regional qualifiers coming through
the mill, beginning with the ICC World Cricket League Division 6, right up to
Division 2 and the ICC Cricket League Championship. The last teams relegated
after this stage were Canada, Namibia, Oman and Kenya. Six teams, Holland,
Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and Nepal advanced
to the ten-team Cricket World Cup Qualifiers. There they were met by the last
four of the teams with One-day International status, West Indies, Afghanistan,
Zimbabwe and Ireland, as per rankings in September 2017. Afghanistan and West
Indies qualified for the ICC World Cup 2019. It will feature ten teams this
time (as against 14 in the last two editions), with the top eight in the ICC
rankings in September 2017, South Africa, India, Australia, England, New
Zealand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka qualifying automatically. Each team
will play the other once, as in 1992, when there were nine sides competing,
followed by the semi-finals and final.
ICC’s Global Partners are Nissan, Oppo, MRF
Tyres and Emirates. Continuing their association are MoneyGram as Event Partner,
Wolf Blass as Wine Partner, and Star Sports as Broadcast Partner. Hublot chimed in as Timing Partner.
The total prize money is $10 million. The
champions will be richer by $4 million, while the runners-up will walk away
with $2 million. The consolation for the two losing semi-finalists will be
$800,000 each.
The eight teams that will be eliminated after
the league stage shall receive $100,000 each, while the prize for winning each
of the 45 league matches is $40,000.
The ICC World Cup is back home again in 2019.
The questions are: will it remain at home at the conclusion of the final at
Lord’s on 14th July, and will there be a hat-trick of home wins.
England’s record in One-day Internationals of late has been first-rate, and
they actually head the ICC rankings at the time of writing. They have never won
the World Cup, been runners-up thrice, more than any other team. Has their time
come? Time will tell.
(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted
on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).
Follow
his blogs:
Indra
Vikram Singh’s books are available at attractive prices on Amazon:
The Big Book of World Cup Cricket
1975-2011
Published
in India by Sporting Links
ISBN
978-81-901668-4-3
Crowning Glory
Published
by Sporting Links
ISBN
978-81-901668-6-7
Don’s Century
Published
in India by Sporting Links
ISBN
978-81-901668-5-0
A Maharaja’s Turf
Published
in India by Sporting Links
ISBN
978-81-901668-3-6
Indra Vikram Singh’s latest books:
Indian Spring, on India’s triumph in
the cricket World Cup 2011
