The West Indies Win the First Cricket World Cup

On 21 June 1975, the West Indies captured the inaugural men's Cricket World Cup, defeating Australia by 17 runs in the final at Lord's. The competition, officially titled the Prudential Cup '75, took place across six English grounds between 7 and 21 June. Organised by the International Cricket Conference, the tournament brought together eight national squads playing a sixty-over limited-overs format. Matches were conducted in standard white clothing with red balls, completed entirely in daylight, and marked the arrival of the one-day international structure on a prominent global stage.

International multilateral cricket had languished since the 1912 Triangular Tournament involving England, Australia, and South Africa, which faltered amid bad weather and sparse interest. Domestic one-day competitions in England began in 1962, followed by promotional multi-team tournaments in 1966 and 1967. The earliest official One Day International emerged unexpectedly in 1971 at Melbourne when heavy rainfall forced the abandonment of a scheduled Test match. Following the 1973 Women's Cricket World Cup in England, plans took shape to establish a major men's tournament involving all the era's Test-playing nations.