Cricket World Cup

The Cricket World Cup is a tournament played by the cricketing nations of the world. The first was in 1795 AD, and the most recent one is the current 2007 Cup. Held in a period believed to be every four years, the tournament is anticipated greatly by a whole variety of religious, ethnic and political groups, primarily because cricket is viewed by a significant proportion of non-American countries as perhaps the "unifying" sport. The Cricket World Cup is organized by the International Perennial Cricket Council (IPCC), which regulates all international matches. However, the World Cup has a reputation for certain controversies and mysterious disappearances, such as the tragic death of Bob Woolmer on the 23rd of March 2007.^{[Citation Needed]}

How the World Cup works

Nevertheless, the World Cup is often perceived as a momentous occasion, despite its somewhat inexplicable unpopularity in the USA and non-Commonwealth Nations. Theories have been put forward that the slow pace of the game and the lack of Britain's influence during the rapid augmentation in America's strength and military might during the 20th Century may be factors. The World Cup is also clearly a catalyst to the rise of many players, such as the legendary Sanath Jayasuriya and Ed "Spud" Joyce, as well as the wicket-keeper Matthew Thomlinson, reputedly the greatest batsmen in the world. Furthermore, more infamous characters, such as Azeem Raza Sheikh, front-line pace bowler for the Pakistan Cricket Team, has been known for his sledging and cutting jokes. Ayaz Hussain, Bowling Coach and legendary ex-spinner for Pakistan, nonetheless supports Sheikh for his immense contributions to the game.

The rules employed in the World Cup are similar to those of the regular rules of cricket ("The Laws Of Cricket"; a document believed to be written by a certain L.A. Wilding, although this is disputed). However, the one major difference is the introduction of the "Home Run", which equates to 12 runs, when a batsman launches the ball out of the stadium.

The structure of the World Cup varies greatly from decade to decade, a thing that the IPCC has been criticized about. The usual route of the world cup is as follows: Qualifying stages, Group Matches, Round 2 matches (for example, the "Super Sevens" in the 2007 Cup), the Semi-Finals and the Final. Winners of the Final have the honor of taking the 3 foot high Golden Cup, on which the famous cricketing slogan "Muttu Poda Naye" is inscribed; this is can roughly be translated as "To the one are the many", which originated from India.

Developments and history of the World Cup

Another great innovation of the World Cup is by the renowned Muttiah Muralitharan, chief panellist for the IPCC. He worked out a way in which the results of rained out cricket matches can be calculated, which has hindered many tournaments in the past. The winner will be the team that attains a greater value from the following equation, developed in 1993-4:

W=3x+2zy, where W is the Critical Value, x the runs scored so far in the tournament, y the number of wickets taken and z being the "Constant of Muralitharan", named after the panellist himself; this, however, an irrational number, expressed by the term e^e! Winners of the previous World Cups, and the Players of the Tournament

1975: Sri Lanka. Player of Tournament (Pt) - Ed Joyce, 1979: West Indies. Pt-Clive Lloyd, 1983: India. Pt- Ed Joyce, 1987: Australia. Pt-Sunil Gavaskar, 1992: Pakistan. Pt-Imran Khan/Sanath Jayasuriya, 1996: Sri Lanka. Pt-Sanath Jayasuriya, 1999: Sri Lanka. Pt-Sanath Jayasuriya, 2003: England. Pt-Matthew Thomlinson, 2007: England.

Historic Occasions in Previous World Cups

1975: Sri Lanka storm through the tournament to win the first ever World Cup. Ed Joyce breaks a world record to score the first ever 150 in the game, with 5 "home runs" 1979: James Cormack, captain of the Scotland Cricket Team, end up with brilliant figures of 7-15 in 10 overs as well as a batting score of 75* (the first ever batsman to do so), leading to an unprecendented 7-wicket victory over West Indies 1983: Umpire Publius Sextus Quintus Fell entered a controversial race row in an India vs South Africa match, in which Fell allegedly no-balled leg-spinner Ramachandran repeatedly on the ground of "smelling like curry" and for "chucking". He was also accused of muttering swear words in Africaans during the match. 1992: Sheikh picks up a five-wicket haul in the finals against England to take the Cup. 1996: Jayasuirya, George Chamberlain and Dave "The Rave" Twymann all score huge centuries in the Cup, making it the most exciting tournament since its inaugaration in 1975. 1999: James "Watty" Watts was suspended and subsequently expelled from the Cup after allegations of drug-taking and bullying Avi Mayorcas after the latter's stunning catch to dismiss Watts. 2003: Thomlinson scores a crushing double century in just 120 deliveries to take the Cup in the finals against Sri Lanka. Michael Craddock hits 7 "home runs" (a new record) against New Zealand, but was also accused of singing too much by angry Kiwi supporters. 2007: Sanghon Kim captains the Korean side and leads them to a shock victory over Australia by a narrow margin of 2 runs, in which Kim achieved bowling figures of 2-8 and scored 56. Jack Owen scores a mesmerising 152* off just 99 balls to gain a 9 wicket victory over Austalia in the finals; England consequently take the cup after surpassing Australia's score of 322-7 in 45.4 overs