Dates | 7 June – 21 June |
---|---|
Administrator(s) | International Cricket Conference |
Cricket format | One Day International |
Tournament format(s) | Round robin and Knockout |
Host(s) | England |
Champions | West Indies (1st title) |
Participants | 8 |
Matches played | 15 |
Attendance | 158,000 (10,533 per match) |
Most runs | Glenn Turner (333) |
Most wickets | Gary Gilmour (11) |
The 1975 Cricket World Cup (officially called the Prudential Cup) was the first edition of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Conference (ICC). It was held from 7 to 21 June 1975 in England.
The tournament was sponsored by Prudential Assurance Company and had eight participating countries: the six Test-playing teams of the time (Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and the West Indies), plus leading Associate nations Sri Lanka and, for the only time, East Africa. The teams were divided into two groups of four, with each team playing the other teams in their group once; the top two from each group qualified for the semi-finals, with the winners of these matches meeting in the final. Each match consisted of 60 overs per team and was played in traditional white clothing and with red balls; all were played during the day and hence started early.
England, New Zealand West Indies and Australia were the teams to qualify for the semi-finals, making this the only World Cup thus far in which no team from the Indian subcontinent made this stage. Australia defeated England and the West Indies beat New Zealand, before the West Indies, the pre-tournament favourites, defeated Australia in the final at Lord's by 17 runs to become the first World Cup winners.