<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> 1979 </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> 1992 </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> 1999 </Li> <Li> 2003 </Li> <Li> 2007 </Li> <Li> 2011 </Li> <Li> 2015 </Li> <Li> 2019 </Li> <Li> 2023 </Li> </Ul> <P> The ICC Cricket World Cup is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket . The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), every four years, with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament . The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and is considered the "flagship event of the international cricket calendar" by the ICC . </P> <P> The first World Cup was organised in England in June 1975, with the first ODI cricket match having been played only four years earlier . However, a separate Women's Cricket World Cup had been held two years before the first men's tournament, and a tournament involving multiple international teams had been held as early as 1912, when a triangular tournament of Test matches was played between Australia, England and South Africa . The first three World Cups were held in England . From the 1987 tournament onwards, hosting has been shared between countries under an unofficial rotation system, with fourteen ICC members having hosted at least one match in the tournament . </P> <P> The World Cup is open to all members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), although the highest - ranking teams receive automatic qualification . The remaining teams are determined via the World Cricket League and the ICC World Cup Qualifier . A total of twenty teams have competed in the eleven editions of the tournament, with fourteen competing in the latest edition in 2015; the next edition in 2019 will have only ten teams . Australia has won the tournament five times, with the West Indies, India (twice each), Pakistan and Sri Lanka (once each) also having won the tournament . The best performance by a non-full - member team came when Kenya made the semi-finals of the 2003 tournament . </P>

When was the first world cup of cricket held