<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 . The tournament is the worlds 4th biggest sporting event behind the FIFA World Cup, Summer Olympics and the Rugby World Cup . </P> <P> The first international cricket match was played between Canada and the United States, on 24 and 25 September 1844 . However, the first credited Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England, and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years . South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889 . Representative cricket teams were selected to tour each other, resulting in bilateral competition . Cricket was also included as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Games, where Great Britain defeated France to win the gold medal . This was the only appearance of cricket at the Summer Olympics . </P>

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