Wednesday 28 December 2011

Which Country Has the Most Cricket World Cup Wins?

Cricket World Cup started in 1975 and takes place every four years. To date there have been ten of them played. I am going to take a look at which teams have the most Cricket World Cup trophies and the runner ups. The first tournament started out with just 8 countries however, today there is 14 countries that participate in the Cricket World Cup.

In first place is Australia. Australia has won four of the ten Cricket World Cups. These wins took place in 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007. In 2003, Australia beat India by an impressive 125 runs. Their closest win came in 1987 when they beat England by just 7 runs. Furthermore, Australia has played 6 final matches and was the runner up in two of them. Australia has also co-hosted the event two times.

West Indies and India have both won two. West Indies won the first two ever played in 1975 and 1979. In 1975 they beat Australia by 17 runs. West Indies was again in the final match in 1983 but they were beat by India by 43 runs. India won in 1983 and 2011. In 2011 they beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets. India was the runner up in 2003 when Australia beat them by 125 runs.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan have both had one win. Sri Lanka won in 1996, beating Australia by seven wickets. In 1996, Sri Lanka was also the co-host of the event, although the finals were in Pakistan. Sri Lanka was the runner up in both 2007 and 2011. Pakistan won in 1992, beating England by 22 runs. Pakistan was the runner up in 1999; Australia beat them by 8 wickets.

England has been the runner up three times but has yet to have an actual World Cup trophy. Even more interesting is that England has hosted the World cup four times, and the final match was played in England four times as well. Other teams that participate that have not won or been to the finals include; New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Ireland, Canada, Netherlands, Bermuda, United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Scotland and East Africa.

In conclusion, The Cricket World Cup is a fairly new event, having only been around a mere 36 years. There have only been nineteen nations to participate in this tournament to date. Hopefully, many new nations will qualify for the upcoming World Cups as cricket popularity continues to grow.

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ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 - Disappointing Format?

ICC Cricket World Cup is the fourth largest and the most viewed sporting event of the world. Coming only once in four years it is the most sought after tournament for cricket lovers. But does its format justify its importance?

Let us first study the format in historical perspective. World Cups of 1975, the year the tournament started adopting the one-day type with 60 overs for each innings, and 1979 were restricted to six test playing nations and two selected regionally. In 1975 Sri Lanka and East Africa were the selected teams. Canada replaced East Africa in 1979. Round robin matches were played in two groups of four each with every team playing each other once within a group. Top two teams from each group qualified for the semi finals.

The 1983 World Cup was the most dramatic with teams like India and Zimbabwe causing major upsets and finally India winning the title. Zimbabwe came in place of Canada. In this tournament the round robin was amended a little and teams within a group played each other twice. Same format continued in 1987, but number of overs reduced from 60 to the international one-day standard of 50 overs.

While new colorful clothing and gears dazzled in the 1992 version format was again changed to a complete round robin without groups with teams playing each other only once. Around that time associate and affiliate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) started making an impact. The size of 1996 Cup swelled to 12 nations. Group format was again adopted. The specter of 'minnows' and extremely one-sided matches involving them came to the fore.

Considering this in the world cups of 1999 and 2003 Super Six was introduced with top three teams from each group qualifying for the super league games. In 2007 super six was replaced by Super Eight with four groups of four each as the number of participating nations increased to 16-highest ever.

Criticism from cricket experts and ex-cricketers grew asking for curtailment of minnows and ineffectual matches. While welcoming the efforts of the ICC to promote cricket for its 100 associates and affiliates suggestions were made to restrict the tournament to only full test and one-day playing members and select only two top teams of the ICC Trophy which has been organized since 1979 among affiliate members and which has a complicated structure going down to six divisions of selection.

Now, consider the scenario for 2011 World Cup. Total 14 nations in two groups of seven each-10 full members and 4 associates. Teams play each other only once in a round robin within a group and top four teams from each group qualify for the quarter finals. From this knockout stage four go to the semis and two to final. No Super Six or Super Eight. If we include Bangladesh and Zimbabwe as minnows, they number six out of fourteen.

There are 49 matches which is surprisingly less than 51 in 2007 and 54 in 2003. Out of this 30 matches involve the minnows. At the league stage there are just 12 matches involving super teams. India plays only six matches out of which three are against minnows. So, in effect they play just three matches to qualify for the knockout and just three more to win the title! This applies to all super teams.

This is indeed disappointing. The suspense of competition is not sustained and the huge gaps between big matches hardly help. Criticism started again. Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting asked for doing away with the minnows from World Cup while others suggested selecting only top two teams from ICC Trophy tournaments.

What are the options before the ICC? We can list a few points here.

• It is not proper to deprive the minnow of this big opportunity altogether, but the suggestion of selecting only top two teams from ICC Trophy can be tried.

• At the league stage teams must play each other at least twice within a group. Maybe, if this rule was applied India and Pakistan would not have crashed out of 2007 World Cup which led to a marketing disaster. One encounter is not enough at this level. True to the game of cricket anything can happen in one-off encounters. Apart from suffering heavy defeats consistently minnows are famous for causing upsets that only damage the competition.

• Criticism about weeks consumed by the tournament is totally unfounded. Coming only once in four years it is expected to take up to two months. Nobody utters a word while the annual extravaganza called IPL(Indian Premiere League) goes on for months with each team playing the others as many as seven times! Further there is definitely no problem of funds and multiple venues help staging even three matches a day.

• Why not consider making this event biennial or organizing an Associate World Cup in between?

• A super league stage is also a must to ensure all super teams play each other. At least here they can play each other twice.

The ICC must consider all options to make this big tournament highly competitive and very effective.

Chinmay Chakravarty is a professional specialized in the creative field with over two decades of experience in journalistic writing, media co-ordination, film script writing, film dubbing, film & video making, management of international film festivals and editing of books & journals. Proficient in providing professional services in these related fields. Presently working in Mumbai Doordarshan as a News Editor.

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Best Captains in Cricket World Cup History

Off all the sports, the role of a captain is most important and effective in the game of cricket undoubtedly. Not only does he have to devise a strategy off the field around which the entire match script would revolve for his team but also has to ensure that on the field that the strategy is executed according to plan.

No occasion within the cricketing world is bigger than the World Cup and all the captains who have lifted the most prized trophy within the game. Clive Lloyd with his brilliant group of players and awesome batting skills led the West Indies cricket team and lifted the World Cup trophy in 1975 and 1979. His glasses, although gave him a serious look, had helped him a great deal in being one of the most prolific middle order batsmen of his time.. The third edition saw an extremely seasoned all-rounder from Indian cricket team, Kapil Dev, as the winning captain. The entire tournament saw him lifting the level of his game when ever required and he subsequently was one of the major contributors in India's triumph in 1983. Allan border always enjoyed respect not only amongst his team members but the entire cricketing fraternity for his immaculate stroke play and sound leadership skills. A consistent performance by his team coupled with good tactical leadership meant that Australian cricket team was the proud winner of the 1987 cricket world cup.

It has been a regular debate amongst the experts as to who is the greatest captain that the game has seen, and very often the vote count lands in the favor of Imran Khan. His inspirational come back from a back injury and a retirement right after the 1987 WC, Imran Khan led a group of wounded tigers and his outstanding leadership helped Pakistan cricket team lift 1992 World Cup. 1996 was a big eye opener and a shocker as the weakest force in the cricketing world at that time, Sri Lankan cricket team, ran away with the honors under sharp leadership of the laid back Arjuna Ranatunga who always made sure that he didn't throw away his wicket cheaply. Ranatunga made sure that his team who were always considered to be the under dogs would play like true champions and win the tournament with flying colors.

Steve Waugh was always a good solid batsman but never did he possess the finesse and charisma of a leader. However he proved everyone wrong and in the 1999 world cup his unorthodox style of captaincy and some luck proved to be the turning point as Australian cricket team lifted the World Cup trophy after 12 years by toppling over Pakistan cricket team, the tournament favorites. Steve Waugh passed on his legacy to Ricky Ponting who had proved himself as one of the best batsman in the world and he was a unanimous favorite to take over the reigns from the retiring Waugh. Under him, Australia have won the last two editions of the World Cup and both those trophies were well deserved since the Aussies seemed in a menacing mood throughout. Ponting is probably the only player in world cup cricket with such phenomenal record for he has featured in finals of all four editions that he has taken part in.

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The United States National Cricket Team

Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world. However, in the United States we are far from that statistic. It seems recently there has been a growing popularity of cricket, especially at the youth and college level, which is promising. Yet still, we are going to need some star players at the professional level to help get us to that goal, I'd like to discuss the United States Cricket National Team and a few key players.

The present United States cricket team consists of the following players; Steve Massiah, Aditya Mishra, Sudesh Dhaniram, Glen Hall, Rashard Marshall, Lennox Cush, Sushil Nadkarni, Aditya Thyagarajan, Carl Wright, Timroy Allen, Orlando Baker, Kevin Darlington, Imran Awan, Usman Shuja, and Saurabh Verma. The most recent squad played in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 qualifier. In that tournament there were eight teams competing. In that tournament the United States only won one match, against Scotland. Carl Da Costa Wright was the top player of the match with 62 runs.

The current US team captain is Steve Massiah. He has been playing for the United States since 2000 and has an impressive record. His One Day International (or ODI) batting average is 11.5 and his first class cricket batting average is 40. In List A cricket he has a bowling average of 20.37 and over 500 runs. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for this star.

Another key player is Lennox Cush. Cush made his first United States appearance in 2006 in the ICC Americas championship. He has a decent batting average for all forms of cricket and has over 1200 runs scored in First class cricket. In Twenty20 cricket he has below a 20 bowling average. We expect great things from him in the next 2 to 5 years for team USA.

The next player I want to discuss is Orlando Baker. Baker is the newest member of the team. He joined United States Cricket in 2008 where he debut his career as the second highest run scorer in the tournament. I think there's a bright future for United States cricketing for Baker.

The United States has a long way to go to start making cricket headlines. However, I think we have started a new upward trend to hopefully winning some International tournaments and reviving the sport. Hopefully these three players and their predecessors can help bring that dream to fruition.

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Who Will Win Cricket World Cup 2011? A Tarot Cards View

Two thousand eleven brings the Cricket World Cup to you, the biggest one day cricket tournament for some time to come. It does not matter how many other cricket tournaments are around the corner including Twenty Twenty IPL tournament but the World cup is a totally different ball game with intense emotions and sense of patriotism involved in each and every game and each and every cricket fans hearts. If we ask fans from each country "Who will win Cricket World Cup 2011?" the response would be the wish and hope that their own country wins it. This cricket world cup is very special, the reasons beings; one, it is played in subcontinent where players are gods and stadiums are battle fields.

The love and passion which one can find in subcontinent can not be seen anywhere in the world. Two, subcontinent pitches are high scoring; add to it the small size of the stadiums, you may expect more sixes and fours hit in this world cup than in any past cricket world cups. Three, the majority of teams are in great form. You can not name a single team which is not expected to give more than 100 percent in this tournament. We do not know who will win this year's cricket world cup but I have made a few tarot cards and cartomancy predictions as to the expected performances of the teams involved in this cricket world cup 2011. (Namely)

Australia: Tarot cards show that Australian cricket team in this edition of Cricket world cup would experience unexpected good news and also team will reap the reward of its energy and efforts and might be recognised for the same. Outcome will be happy which will give emotional joy and happiness. They will face no difficulty and no obstruction will be on their way. This team might get gift which they must have expected. This might be another cricket world cup win for them.
Bangladesh: My Tarot readings say that for Bangladesh cricket team money energy is blocked. If given second chance this team can perform better and by that it can be seen that Bangladesh cricket team might have close matches and may suddenly loose a winning match because of their mistakes.
Canada: Tarot predictions show that there is good chance to achieve emotional happiness which is hoped for. Team will get happiness and success in all endeavours but more on emotional side. Thus the readings show that in this edition of cricket world cup Canadians will perform better than their past shows. This will bring more emotional happiness than the material happiness to the side. Winning the world cup is not what this indicates. But recognition is there.
England: Cartomancy readings show that English cricket team has to really work hard and work out to face the challenge. They might get desired goals but with lots of efforts. Efforts might bring unexpected surprises at the same time the team needs careful planning otherwise team will only learn lessons for future. So careful planning is the key for English.
India: Tarot cards and Cartomancy readings indicate that Indian cricket team will fight with more energy than in past. There are cards which show money as well as emotional happiness and success at any endeavour of the tournament. Luck is in their favour. This luck card is not present in the readings of other cricket teams in the tournament. So other teams need to be careful of Indians. Only hurdle which can be noted here is that extra efforts are needed to achieve desired goals. If they feel complacent after showing good performance in the beginning or they do not take weaker teams seriously, they might ruin their chances. World cup can be theirs again with a bit of extra effort.
Ireland: Tarot cards are not good for Ireland. They will face lots of problems. The teams planning and strategies, may not work out well. To get success they require lots of efforts and there are grave difficulties in path of their goals.
Kenya: My readings say that things are out of control for Kenyans cricket team and there is no clarity in their plans to win matches. Tarot cards show a lot of confusion and difficulty to get emotional stability and happiness. Thus I conclude that this cricket team may not show good performance.
Netherlands: Tarot cards show that this cricket team will play with full energy and full horse power. Success and money is indicated but with the setbacks in reaching their goals. Things will not move as expected. We might see Netherlands perform better than its earlier shows in the cricket world cup. cartomancy readings indicate that although they will perform very well but they will need to plan a good strategy if that want to give result to their efforts.
New Zealand: My readings of New Zealand Tarot cards show that this cricket team will show a lot of efforts and energy in reaching their goals but all this will be of no use. There are hurdles blocks and obstacles in their pathway and they will need to put more than 100% to attain success. New Zealand cricket team need to take every team seriously as a weaker team might be a road block for them too.
Pakistan: Cartomancy and Tarot readings for Pakistan Cricket team say that they will play in best of spirits with great energy and enthusiasm. There are chances to get emotional satisfaction and success. Like tarot cards for Australian cricket team if Pakistan cricket team plays will full spirit and employ better strategies and keep stable mindset, they might pull off this edition of cricket world cup. Their chances are high too.
South Africa: Tarot cards for South African cricket team are very favourable. Like Australia and Pakistan cricket teams they will have to employ full efforts and energy as well which in turn indicates financial stability for which they have hoped for. Any stinginess in their efforts may cost them crucial matches. Chances are that this team might win the cricket world cup 2011.
Sri lanka: Tarot cards for Sri Lankan cricket team indicates lots of hopes and wishes which will pump up the performance of the team but their efforts might fail to bring any fruits. Cards also indicate frustration and disappointment. Key players are the only solution of this. This team needs their key cricketers to give best performances otherwise if the important players fail to perform, whole teams moral will be down. Chances of winning cricket world cup 2011 are very low.
West Indies: Very positive tarot cards indicate that Windies cricket team will perform with great emotions and positive energy. Money is on the cards. Lot of chances are there to win as things are falling in place. They will perform with positive attitude. My advice would be that if they do not lose this positive attitude and stick to it Cricket world cup 2011 might show in their closet.
Zimbabwe: Tarot cards for Zimbabwe Cricket team are more or less similar to what we have observed with Ireland's predictions. I don't think their performance will be up to the mark will have to face small small problems in their matches. They need to plan very well before that go out on the field and they might face defeat even with the new teams playing against them.

In all these readings West Indies team got the best tarot cards. This is because positive energy can be seen in their cards. Other teams which got great cards were India, South Africa, Australia and Pakistan cricket team. Key Indications to win cricket world cup 2011 for Australia is Positive Good News, for India it is The Good Luck, for Pakistan it is the enthusiastic energy, for South Africa it is efforts and energy and again for West Indies is Positive energy. These predictions are based on the Tarot and Cartomancy readings done in accordance to the expected performance of the cricket teams. We can only predict what might happen in the world cup 2011 but then teams actual performances and results will show the crucial outcome and this edition of cricket world cup is highly anticipated. All we can say is best of luck to the teams and hope they provide a great cricket show for the fans.

Ranie The Queen
http://www.fortunecartomancy.com

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Cricket Growing Popularity in the US

Cricket is a sport that has been around since the 16th century in England. In the 1800's international matches began and cricket eventually became the 2nd most popular sport in the world. United States cricket teams started competing in the mid 1800's sometime and have been growing in the US very slowly over the past 2 centuries.

In 2004, the ICC (the International Cricket Council) announced Project USA, which was a large project dedicated to increasing cricket acceptance in the USA. Unfortunately that project failed but it did increase cricket awareness and today there are over 200,000 cricket players in the United States, many of them from countries such as India or Pakistan. Most of these players are men and women playing on recreational cricket teams throughout different US cities.

Currently there are competitive cricket teams at over 50 colleges in the US. These colleges enjoy matches throughout the season as well as a yearly championship. The group, American College Cricket, has been growing and adding colleges and Universities to their association every year. Currently Minnesota State holds a very large cricket tournament every year that involves a large group of teams in the Midwest competing in a cricket tournament; hopefully this will start a trend?

Now most US states have youth cricket leagues that are supported by the United States Youth Cricket Association. The United States Youth Cricket Association (USYCA) is growing quickly. their continuing efforts to grow the market in all areas across the United States has not gone unnoticed. Currently the USYCA has a project for schools across America to received free cricket kits just for adding cricket to their PE program and becoming part of the organization. You can get more information on their website at http://usyca.org/. What an excellent way to start a new youth sport and grow an ever-popular sport. Earlier this year the United States Junior Cricket joined the USYCA as an affiliate member. This merger is brilliant as both groups had similar visions and work toward one common goal, to expand cricket in the United States.

In conclusion, cricket is growing in popularity in the United States. I believe many important things start with our youth and fortunately we have fabulous cricket youth organizations in the United States. I hope to see this growth increase in the near future, as this sport is a valuable part of our world history and a very exciting sport to watch.

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How Do You Play Cricket?

Cricket is a sport that has been around for a long time. It is popular all over the world. Cricket is also a sport that has many different forms and can be played by anyone, male or female, old or young. I would like to talk about cricket basics or how to play cricket.

For starters, cricket is a bat and ball game. There are eleven players on each team playing and the teams take turns batting and bowling. Which team bats first is decided by a coin toss. Bowling is a term used for when the bowler drives the ball toward the wicket, which is guarded by the batsmen.

When a team or side is up they send two players or batsman up to the wicket at the same time. The two batsmen stand across from each other on opposite sides of the cricket pitch, which is the strip in the middle of the field where the 2 wickets are located. Those two batsmen take turns batting over and over again until one of them gets dismissed. Then a new one replaces that batsman and they start over again. Once ten of the eleven batsmen have gotten out than it is the other sides turn to bat. In cricket you can hit the ball any way you choose, including behind you. The batsman scores a run if he can hit the ball and he and the other batsman can basically trade spots before the fielders reach the ball back to the center of the cricket field, or pitch.

The team that is bowling is also fielding. Fielding in cricket means to try to get the balls that are being hit by the cricket batsman. The fielders can get a Batsman out by catching the ball after it is struck. There are nine different fielders and many different positions those nine can play. Also, on the fielding side is the wicketkeeper. The wicketkeeper stands behind the wicket (stumps) where the batsman is currently on strike. A wicketkeeper can cause the batsman a dismissal if he catches a ball that has been touched by the batsman. The wicket keeper also moves toward the stumps after the batsman has successfully struck the ball to catch a possible throw from a fielder, which can result in a batsman's dismissal.

Now let's discuss how you actually win or score in cricket. There are two factors that determine the score of the cricket game: runs and wickets lost. The team that makes the most runs wins the game. The batsman is protecting the wicket whilst batting because if the bowler or a fielder knocks down the wicket that is how the batsman is officially out.

In conclusion, as you can see cricket is a complex game. There are many important things that strong cricketer must display; physical ability, endurance, above-average intelligence and critical thinking skills. For these reasons I think cricket is an extraordinary game, you will never get bored as a player!

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