As many as ten teams will participate in the 2023 ODI World Cup which will begin on October 5 with the match between England and New Zealand at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
While eight teams had already qualified, we had two teams who had come through the World Cup qualifiers.
This is really interesting because today ICC has 12 Full Member nations, but there was a time when they had just six Test-playing nations.
And back in the day, gamblers would bet on Cricket World Cup, backing any of these teams. But now, we have all the options to bet on all these 10 teams and to wager during every single match.
Let’s look at thos teams that participated in all the ODI world cups.
Seven Teams that Featured in all ODI World Cups
There are seven nations that had played in the 1975 ODI World Cup. We will take a look at all of them on an individual basis.
England:
England is the birthplace of cricket. When ICC was not in effect, it was the MCC (Marlybourne Cricket Club) that used to be the custodian of the game.
Being based out of England, MCC had lots of English members.
No surprise, that England was one of the first permanent members of MCC and hence became the earliest Test playing nation.
England lagged behind in the initial years of the ODI World Cups, getting knocked out in the final multiple times.
Eventually, they won the trophy in 2019 on home soil.
Australia:
Meanwhile, Australia was the second oldest Test-playing nation in the world.
In fact, the first official Test match was played between Australia and England.
No surprise, these two became the first two nations to get Full Member status in international cricket.
Both teams featured in the 1975 edition and keep on featuring till today.
In fact, Australia has gone on to become the most successful side in the world cup, winning the trophy on five occasions.
West Indies:
West Indies was the fourth nation in the pecking order, with New Zealand being the third.
West Indies also became one of the most successful teams in international cricket, winning the ODI World Cup on two occasions.
Under the leadership of Clive Lloyd, they produced some ferocious cricketers like Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, and Garfield Sobers.
West Indies is the third team to feature in every other edition of the ODI World Cup, dominating the 70s, but losing the momentum in the 90s.
Interestingly, they failed to qualify for the 2023 edition of the World Cup which makes their decline quite evident.
India
India played its first ODI World Cup in 1975 and has featured in the tournament ever since.
They didn’t fare better in the first two editions of the World Cup in 1975 and 1979, however, in 1983 they would go on to win the World Cup.
28 years later, they again won the trophy on their home soil.
As the ODI World Cup returns to India after a gap of 11 years, fans would be hoping for another victory for India.
Pakistan:
India played their first Test match against England in 1933. Back then Pakistan was part of India itself.
However, within two years of the partition itself, MCC granted Test status to Pakistan.
Since then Pakistan had featured in every other World Cup, winning the edition in 1992.
New Zealand:
Meanwhile, New Zealand was another Test-playing nation back in the day which means it featured in the 1975 edition and has been featuring ever since.
New Zealand is perhaps the only country not to win the trophy despite playing it for so many years.
However, they reached the finals once in 2015, losing to Australia.
Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka also featured in the tournament from 1975 onwards.
They featured in the first two editions (1975 and 1979) without being a permanent member.
Yes at the time, they were an Associate Nation and it was only in 1981 that they became a Test-playing nation, qualifying directly for the World Cup ever since.
This year they have sealed the deal by winning the qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
Final Thoughts:
So, these are the seven nations that have featured in ODI World Cups over the years.
Now, it needs to be seen if ICC will make a change in the schedule in the near future which will allow the young teams to participate in the big league.
