Daily Times

LAHORE: The inaugural Cricket World Cup (officially called the Prudential Cup) was the first major tournament in the history of One-day International (ODI). Organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), it was held in England from June 7 to 21 in 1975. 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, West Indies and the two leading Associate nations at the time ––– Sri Lanka and East Africa. The teams were divided into two groups of four, with each team playing each other 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 and ended in daylight. England and New Zealand finished as the top two teams in Group A.

In Group B, favourites West Indies won all their matches but not before having a narrow escape against spirited Pakistan, who lost their first match against Australia by 73 runs. Pakistan made 266 for the loss of seven wickets, while in reply West Indies reached 267 for the loss of nine wickets, thus winning by one wicket. Pakistan ended their tournament with a 192-run victory over Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge with half centuries to Zaheer Abbas, Majid Khan and Sadiq Mohammad. After Australia defeated England and West Indies defeated New Zealand in the semi-finals, West Indies. who which came into the tournament as favourites, defeated Australia in the final at Lord’s by 17 runs to become the first World Cup winners. West Indies’ skipper Clive Lloyd played a captain’s knock as he plundered the Australian bowling to score 102 runs from 85 balls which helped his team finish at a score of 291-8 in 60 overs. England’s Dennis Amiss scored the first century of the tournament against India, notching up 137 runs. New Zealand batsman Glenn Turner was the top run-scorer for the tournament with 333 runs with Australian bowler Gary Gilmour was the top wicket-taker with 11 wickets.