A whole new ball game

How much has the limited-overs game changed from the time of the first World Cup tournament in 1975?

Consider that colour television was introduced in Australia at about the same time and think of the changes in communications in the intervening period and you're on the right track.

There were only eight teams competing in 1975 and now there are 16. The tournament was "a wham bam thank you ma'am" affair lasting only a fortnight, while now it is a two-month-long extravaganza. In 1975 there were no field restriction circles, no Powerplays and bouncers weren't an afterthought; in one match West Indies batsman Alvin Kallicharran hooked and cut five successive Dennis Lillee short-pitched deliveries to the boundary.

The players wore whites, the ball was red and the games were sixty, not fifty, overs a side. There was no Super Eights, just semi-finals and then a final and no lights at the grounds, as the only hint of a night game came in the tournament's thrilling climax at Lord's, when the last wicket fell at 8.40pm on the longest day of the year.

And there is the "night and day" difference between the way teams prepared then and now for the most prestigious one day tournament on the cricketing calendar.

The first World Cup match was held on June 7th 1975 and there were only three ODI's played in that year prior to the tournament. This time a minnow like Scotland will have at least nine matches in 2007 before they even get to the warm up games. In 1975 New Zealand was one of the lucky teams as they had two games in March, three months before the tournament started; this time India will play in two separate series in the final weeks before the World Cup gets underway.

In 1975 Australia played an ODI on New Year's Day and then nothing was planned until the tournament commenced. However, we convinced the Cricket Board a Canadian stop over on the way to the UK would be a good way of getting some lead up cricket. The Board weren't happy the players were billeted in Canada and their worst fears were confirmed when an abundance of hospitality led to a loss, not against the National XI, but one from Ontario.

The Australian squad of sixteen [four Tests followed the tournament] arrived in the UK on June 1 and we had to cull two players to meet the World Cup requirement of fourteen. Because our squad was larger than the rest we refused a warm up game against Gloucestershire and instead played an eight-a-side intra-squad practice match at the Bank of England grounds in London.

All went well until my heavily loaded bowling team came to bat. Because the opposition was batsmen heavy, Doug Walters opened the bowling with Dennis Lillee and he commenced to run through our line-up with his outswingers. Annoyed that we weren't getting enough practice, I sent the dismissed top-order batsmen back in again. When I walked out for a second time facing a Walters hat-trick, our smart aleck new-ball bowler called out from the top of his run, "Batsman, haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

Despite all the hiccups and the bizarre nature of the lead up matches, Australia still made the final only to be beaten in a thrilling, high-scoring match by West Indies.

The current England side should take heart. Their preparations might be in disarray, with the losses mounting and half the prospective World Cup squad under an injury cloud but at least they are losing to tournament favourites Australia, not a team of unknowns from Ontario. And their crushing losses to New Zealand aren't in vain; the Black Caps could be lulled into a false sense of security by the time the two teams meet in the first round of the 2007 tournament.

But wait; is that Canada I see lurking in the England section of the draw? The same Canada that beat Australia in 1975 on the way to the World Cup; surely England couldn't lose to Canada?

No, it couldn't happen; things might have changed dramatically since 1975 but not that much. And neither have things changed so much that England will cause a huge upset and win the World Cup for the first time.