June 21, 1975: The 1st Cricket World Cup Final

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,

and Clive Lloyd, Captain of the West Indies team

June 21, 1975, 50 years ago: The 1st Cricket World Cup Final is held, at Lord's Cricket Ground, a.k.a. "The Home of Cricket," in North-West London. To the dismay of English cricket fans, England isn't in the Final.

The International Cricket Conference (ICC) put the tournament together, with 8 teams. England, of course, hosted. Their colonial legacy led to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand coming to love the sport, and they were also in the tournament. It also included an East Africa team representing Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and it would later include Zambia.

And the tournament was rounded out by a West Indies team, a.k.a. "Windies," representing the former British colonies, by then independent nations, of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago; the still-British territories of Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat; a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Sint Maarten; and an American territory, the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Matches got underway on June 7. Venues were Lord's, The Oval in South London, Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham, Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester (a mile south of the more familiar soccer stadium of the same name), Trent Bridge in Nottingham, and Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds.

England won all 3 of their matches in Group A. New Zealand also advanced from the Group. The West Indies and Australia advanced from Group B. Having the home-field advantage, England were expected to win their Semifinal with Australia at Headingley, but England could only score 93 runs. Gary Gilmour led Australia to victory with 94. West Indies won the other Semifinal, beating New Zealand 159-158.

The Final was held on June 21, at Lord's, in front of a full house of 26,675. Australia won the toss, but, hoping to make use of ideal bowling (pitching) conditions, invited the West Indies to bat first. That may, in this most gentlemanly of sports, have been the sporting thing to do, but it may also have been a mistake. The West Indies rolled up 291 runs, and that's a lot to make up.

Australia gave it a good shot. They got to 80 runs before their 1st wicket, and to 162 after only 3 wickets. But some mishaps in running the bases proved costly, and they could only get to 274. The West Indies had won. Lloyd accepted the trophy from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, representing his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, as the head of state of both the host nation and the winning team.

The West Indies would repeat in 1979, and won a 3rd title in 2007. Australia have won the most, 5: 1987, 1999, 2003, 2015 and 2023. India have 2: 1983 and 2011. Pakistan won in 1992, Sri Lanka in 1996, and England in 2019.

For the record, the United States has never qualified for this tournament.

The next one will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, in October and November 2027.