The Cricket World Cup was first held in 1975 in England because it was the only nation at the time that had the resources to stage an event of such magnitude. The matches played consisted of 60 overs per team and were played in traditional white uniform and red balls. They were all played during the day and hence started early. Eight teams participated in the first tournament: Australia, England, the West Indies, Pakistan, India, and New Zealand (the six Test nations at the time), with Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa.West Indies won the first Cricket World Cup when they defeated Australia by 17 runs in the final.

Laws of Cricket
Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself. The major responsibility for ensuring the spirit of fair play rests with the captains.

The laws of cricket are a set of rules framed by the Marylebone Cricket Club, which outline all aspects of how the game is played from how a team wins a game, how a batsman is dismissed, through to specifications on how the pitch is to be prepared and maintained. Although the MCC is a private club based in London and no longer the game’s governing body, the MCC retains copyright in the laws and only the MCC may change the laws, although nowadays this would usually only be done after discussions with the game’s global governing body the International Cricket Council. 

The Laws are intended to apply to all two innings matches; the International Cricket Council has implemented “Standard Playing Conditions for Test Matches” and “Standard Playing Conditions for One Day Internationals” to augment the Laws of Cricket. Similarly, each cricketing country has implemented Playing Conditions to govern domestic cricket. Note that the Laws do not provide for One Day or Limited Overs cricket; these modifications have been made by the Playing Conditions for One Day Internationals. Teams may agree to alter some of the rules for particular games. Other rules supplement the main laws and change them to deal with different circumstances. In particular, there are a number of modifications to the playing structure and fielding position rules that apply to one innings games that are restricted to a set number of fair deliveries.