Indra Vikram Singh's heritage and myriad strokes: ICC Cricket World Cup 2019…..Home again. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Wonder Down Under’

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 14^th 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).

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