World Cup winners

They may say it is not about winning or loosing it's about the spirit of the game. But in the end the winner gets to keep the steal. And in the Cricket World Cup the steal is the shining World Cup trophy. In the years since World Cup became a major international tournament there have been a number of interesting final matches.

Let's go down memory lane to remember some of the interesting ones.

In the 1900s a number of other countries started playing crickets and joined the list of Test playing nations – West Indies in 1928, New Zealand in 1930, India in 1932, and Pakistan in 1952.

But it was as late as the 1960s, when English county cricket teams started playing a shortened version of cricket. The first One-Day International event was played between England and Australia on the fifth day of a rain-aborted Test match at Melbourne in 1971. It was a forty over match with eight balls per over.

The shorter version of the game become an instant hit and prompted the ICC to consider organising a Cricket World Cup.

The inaugural Cricket World Cup was hosted by England in 1975 and the participants included: Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the West Indies, Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa. The West Indies won the Cup after defeating Australia by 17 runs in the final at Lord's.

In the 1979 World Cup West Indies registered a second consecutive World Cup win after defeating England by 92 runs in the final.

In the 1983 tournament India registered its first and only victory after beating West Indies by 43 runs in the final.

In 1987 the matches were played in India the cup was won by Australia after defeating England by 7 runs in the final. This is also the closest margin in World Cup final history.

The 1992 World Cup was significant as a number of changes were introduced and it was won by Pakistan defeating England by 22 runs in the final.

In the 1996 championship Sri Lanka won the World Cup for the first time defeating Australia by seven wickets in the final at Lahore.

The events from 1999 to 2007 were all won by Australia after defeating three worthy opponents. In the 1999 Cup Australia dismissed Pakistan for 132 runs and finished the match in 20 overs.

In 2003Australia made a crushing 359 runs – the largest ever total in a final and defeated India by 125 runs.

In 2007 Australia defeated Sri Lanka in the final by 53 runs (D/L), in farcical light conditions.