The Cricket World Cup is an international cricket competition established in 1975. It is contested by the men's national teams of the members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport's global governing body. The tournament generally takes place every four years. Most recently, the 2015 Cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, was won by Australia, who beat their co-hosts New Zealand. The current trophy was instituted in 1999. It always remains with the ICC, and a replica is awarded to the winning team. Nations with Test status automatically qualify for the World Cup, while associate and affiliate ICC members must qualify through a qualification tournament, the World Cup Qualifier. Though an associate member is yet to reach the final, Kenya did reach the semi-finals in 2003. Australia is the most successful team in the competition's history, winning five tournaments and finishing as runner-up twice. Twice, teams have won successive tournaments: the West Indies won the first two editions (1975 and 1979) and Australia won three in a row (1999, 2003 and 2007). Australia has played in the most finals (seven out of eleven: 1975, 1987, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015). England is the team to reach the final and not win the World Cup most often, ending as runner-up in all three final appearances.
Of the twenty teams that have qualified for at least one Cricket World Cup, seven have contested a tournament final. Seven venues have hosted the final; only two of those –Lord's, in London, and the Melbourne Cricket Ground – have hosted multiple finals. India is the only country that has hosted a World Cup final at more than one venue, withEden Gardens, Kolkata, hosting in 1987 and Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium hosting in 2011.