History of the ICC Cricket World Cup a composite team from East Africa. One notable omission was the South African cricket team who were not competing due to the international sports boycott. West Indies won the first Cricket World Cup by defeating Australia by 17 runs in the final. The next two World Cups held in 1979 and 1983 were again hosted by England. The 1979 Cricket World Cup saw the introduction of the ICC Trophy, a competition used to select non-Test playing teams for the World Cup. Sri Lanka and Canada qualified through the ICC Trophy in 1979. West Indies again won the World Cup tournament,
Cricket World Cup hosts Cricket World Cup hosts The International Cricket Council's executive committee votes for the hosts of the tournament after examining the bids made by the nations keen to hold a Cricket World Cup. All the World Cup events so far have been held in nations in which cricket is a popular sport. Most of the tournaments have been jointly hosted by nations from the same geographical region, such as South Asia in 1987, 1996, and 2011, Australasia in 1992 and 2015, Southern Africa in 2003 and West Indies in 2007. England have hosted the most World Cups – a total of