2011 WORLD CUP

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the tenth Cricket World Cup, and will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries; India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will be Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a Cricket World Cup. The World Cup will use cricket's One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams scheduled to compete. The World Cup will take place during the months of February and March 2011, with the first match being played on 19 February 2011.
The World Cup was originally to have been hosted by Pakistan as well, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab, the International Cricket Council (ICC) were forced to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights.[2] The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have now been shifted to Mumbai.[3] Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final.

Bids
The ICC originally announced its decision on which countries would host the 2011 World Cup on 30 April 2006.
Australia and New Zealand also bid for the tournament, and a successful Australasian bid for the 2011 World Cup would have seen a 50-50 split in games, with the final still up for negotiation. The Trans–Tasman bid, Beyond Boundaries, was the only bid for 2011 delivered to ICC headquarters in Dubai ahead of the March 1 deadline. Considerable merits of the Australasian bid were the superior venues and infrastructure and the total support of both the New Zealand and Australian governments on tax and customs issues during the tournament, according to Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland[5]. The New Zealand government had also given assurance that Zimbabwe would be allowed to compete in the tournament, following political discussions in the country whether their cricket team should be allowed to tour Zimbabwe in 2005. The Australasian bid also won the support of former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
ICC President Ehsan Mani said the extra time taken by the Asian bloc to hand over its bid compliance book had harmed the four-nation bid. However, when the time came to vote, Asia won the hosting rights by ten votes to three[5]. The Pakistan Cricket Board has revealed that it was the vote of the West Indies Cricket Board that swung the matter, as the Asian bid had the support of the four bidding countries along with South Africa and Zimbabwe. It was reported in Pakistani newspaper Dawn that the Asian countries promised to hold fund-raising events for West Indian cricket during the 2007 World Cup, which may have influenced the vote. However, chairman of the Monitoring Committee of the Asian bid, I. S. Bindra, said it was their promise of extra profits in the region of US$ 400 million that swung the vote, that there "was no quid pro quo for their support"[10], and that playing the West Indies had "nothing to do with the World Cup bid".
International cricket politics lie at the heart of the dispute. Since cricket is the most popular sport in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Asia is of fundamental financial importance to the International Cricket Council. However, historically, international cricket has been controlled by the "Old Commonwealth" nations of England, Australia, and New Zealand, supported by South Africa.[citation needed] The centre of cricketing politics has moved, over time, with the money, and the Asian nations, particularly India under the guidance of Jagmohan Dalmiya, looking for greater control in the direction of international cricket, and in 2005 Dalmiya said that the Indian subcontinent should host every third World Cup.

Pakistan Stripped of Co-host Status

Pakistan were stripped of its rights as co-host of the 2011 World Cup by the ICC on 17th April, 2009 due to ongoing concerns about the "uncertain security situation" prevailing in the country, especially in the aftermath of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has hinted that it may refuse to participate in the World Cup if they are asked to play in India . However, there is no concrete evidence whether this will actually happen.
It is estimated that the PCB will lose $10.5 million due to the tournament being taken away from them. This figure only includes the match-fee of $750,000 per match guaranteed by the ICC. The overall loss to the PCB and the Pakistani economy is expected to be much greater.
On 9th April 2009, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt revealed that they had issued a legal notice to oppose ICC's decision. However, the ICC claims that the PCB is still a co-host and they have only shifted the matches out of Pakistan. Pakistan have proposed that South Asia host the 2015 World Cup and Australia/New Zealand host 2011, however this option has not found favour with their co-hosts and hence seems unlikely.

Allocation of matches
On 11 April 2005, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan announced an agreement about the allocation of games. The original plan involved India hosting the final, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka would host the semi-finals. and the opening ceremony will take place in Bangladesh. Australian cricketer Brett Lee will be performing the theme song for this World Cup.
After being stripped of its co-host status, Pakistan made the bid to host its home games in the cities of UAE as a neutral home venue. This is in response to the fact that the last few months of cricket that Pakistan has played, has been in the cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. The pitches in these stadia have also been developed to suit the Pakistani players. This would not harm any timing schedules as there are regular flights from the city of Mumbai to Dubai.
However, on the 28th of April 2009, the ICC announced the re-allocation of matches originally intended to be played in Pakistan. As a result, India will now host 29 matches across eight venues including the final and one semi-final; Sri Lanka will host 12 in three venues, including one semi-final; while Bangladesh will stage eight at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on February 18, 2011.

1975 WORLD CUP

The cricket world cup of 1975 was the first ever cricket world cup and looking back on it is quite a bizarre experience. Prior to 1975, only 18 one day internationals had ever been played. The idea of ODI cricket was in its infancy reflected in cricket whites, a red ball and 60 over format closer resembling Test cricket. Held in England the cricket world cup went from June 7 to June 21 over a fortnight period.
The spirit in which the game was played was a lot more docile than what we have come to expect from the modern era of one day internationals. Many sides chose to treat the new format as a shortened Test match.
In a bizarre episode, Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar made history with surely the craziest runs chase of all time versus England in the group stages. Chasing a challenging score of 335 Gavaskar decided to bat through the innings amounting a sluggish, brick wall, Boycottesque 36 not out from 174 balls displaying a contemptuous attitude in the process. His lack of desire to even attempt to pursue the target would be lamented these days. I hate to think what Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith would make of it, having chased down 435 in the greatest ODI international that ever was.
Teams Present at Cricket World Cup 1975:
1.Australia
2.East Africa (cricketers from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia)
3.England
4.India
5.New Zealand
6.Pakistan
7.Sri Lanka (pre test match status)
8.West Indies
Despite the first cricket world cup of 1975 facing difficulties in clawing itself away from the traditional form of Test Cricket the tournament was a marked success that started the rapid evolution of cricket over the last 30 years. The English weather for once held off and an enthralling fortnight of cricket took place culminating in the final taking place between the West Indies and Australia who beat New Zealand and England in their respective semis.
Eventual World Cup Winners: West Indies
And what a final it was! On June 21 1975, 26,000 brimming faces at Lords witnessed the first ever cricket world cup ripsnorter of a final. Clive Lloyd, the West Indies skipper and arguable man-of-the-match, executed a scintillating display of hard hitting (102 from 85 balls, 12 fours, 2 sixes) that would send shivers down the spines of the likes of Yuvraj and Afridi nowadays. His single handed efforts set up an impressive total and laid the groundwork for a West Indies world cup triumph.
Having set the Aussies a target of 292 to win Viv Richards proceeded to show the new importance of fielding in the one day game by running out three of their top order. Whilst the top order collapsed an unlikely final dramatic twist almost occurred with a valiant final wicket stand from the great fast bowlers Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee. The partnership of 41 threatened to snatch an astonishing victory until wicket-keeper Deryck Murray’s steely mentality, coolness under pressure and precision of throw, to underarm the wicket to dismiss Thomson formalised the result as Lord’s was immediately engulfed by thousands of excited fans.
The West Indies triumphed as Australia fell 17 runs short of the total. A truly staggering final to set the tone of one day cricket and remains a benchmark with which all cricket world cup finals will be compared to. The cricket world cup final of 1975 is still the greatest ever final in many people’s eyes.

WORLD CUP HISTORY

World cup tournament has a tremendous history. It started in 1975 in England. It’s the biggest tournament in the world of cricket. The first three tournaments in the world cup were known as Prudential Cup with the sponsorship of prudential plc, a known pecuniary services company. It’s a privilege for the players to play for the world cup and players feel proud and lucky to be a part of world cup tournament. They put their best effort to win the glorious cup and hence to be called world champions.World cup history says that the earlier matches consisted of 60 overs per players and it was played in white uniform with red balls. Earlier the matches were held only during day. Till 1992 World Cup, only 8 teams participated in the tournament.Afterwards, cricket became more and more famous and gradually it was considered a good sport by many countries. Now, in world cup 2007, 16 teams have participated to battle for the cup. In 1975, England, New Zealand, India, East Africa, Australia, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated in world cup tournament.In 1979, East Africa was part of the world cup team while in 1983, Zimbabwe made an entry. The same teams took part in the 1987 World Cup. In 1992, South Africa entered in the group to play the world cup and that year 9 teams took part in the tournament. By 1996, the number of teams have increased to 12 with the participation of three more teams in the group. They were UAE, Netherlands and Kenya. But in 1999 world cup, UAE and Netherlands played for the world cup.As we all know that cricket was born in England and the first three world cup was played here. In 1987, for the first time in the world cup history the tournament was held outside England. World cup 1987 introduced impartial umpires to give more fair decision. World cup matches have contributed more and more records in the cricket’s History. The records in the world cup history consist of most excellent batting strike rate, most run-scorers, top bowlers, best bowling, finest bowling strike rate, main wicket-takers, team totals, lowest team totals, all major catches and maximum individual scores, and actually the most dismissals.Initially the world cup confined the attention of only few spectators, but gradually it has mesmerized millions of viewers who keenly wait for the tournament. Australia has won the world cup thrice, West Indies twice and India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have won once. Ever since in the world cup history, Australia has been one of the toughest contenders for the world cup. World cup history has many fascinating records. This is the ninth world cup being held in a caribbean nation called West Indies. Many arrangements have been done to welcome the teams who will again make some new records.The history of cricket has many more things to unveil which is yet to be known by the fans. You can find many more interesting facts and figures about world cup history from the various sources. Some sources are cricket dedicated sites which will provide you the complete information of this tournament’s history. This history contains many achievements and landmarks made by the players. Some players like Brain Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Waugh, Imran khan etc are the best players in cricket and the records made by them are very fascinating.Summary: Cricket fans are always eager to know the world cup history. It is always exciting to know the records made by the players and the fans too are anxious to the details about the records. You can even know the detail information about the past cricket from internet, books, sports channel etc.All these sources provide accurate information about the world cup history.Ella Wilson is a cricket fanatic. She simply loves the game and tries to catch live action no matter where she is.At Stickiewicket she works on online cricket score, Fantasy cricket and Cricket News among other things.