Australia at the Cricket World Cup

Year	Round	Games	Won	Tied/No result	Lost	Captain
1975	Runner Up	5	3	0	2	Ian Chappell
1979	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	Kim Hughes
1983	Group Stage	6	2	0	4	Kim Hughes
1987	Champions	8	7	0	1	Allan Border
1992	Round-Robin Stage	8	4	0	4	Allan Border
1996	Runners Up	8	5	0	3	Mark Taylor
1999	Champions	10	8	0	2	Steve Waugh
2003	Champions	11	11	0	0	Ricky Ponting
2007	Champions	11	11	0	0	Ricky Ponting
2011	Quarter Finals	7	4	1	2	Ricky Ponting
2015	Champions	9	7	1	1	Michael Clarke
2019	Semi Finals	10	7	0	3	Aaron Finch
Total	Five time Champions	96	70	2	24

White: Group/Round-Robin Stage

Green: Quarter-Finals/Super Six

Light Blue: Semifinals

Silver: Runner Up

Gold: Champions

Teamwise record

Opponent	M	W	L	T	NR	Win %	First played
Afghanistan	2	2	0	0	0	100	2015
Bangladesh	4	3	0	0	1	75	1999
Canada	2	2	0	0	0	100	1979
England	8	5	3	0	0	62.50	1975
India	12	8	4	0	0	66.66	1983
Ireland	1	1	0	0	0	100	2007
Kenya	3	3	0	0	0	100	1996
Namibia	1	1	0	0	0	100	2003
Netherlands	2	2	0	0	0	100	2003
New Zealand	11	8	3	0	0	72.72	1987
Pakistan	10	6	4	0	0	60	1975
Scotland	2	2	0	0	0	100	1999
South Africa	6	3	2	0	1	50	1992
Sri Lanka	11	8	2	0	1	72.72	1975
West Indies	10	5	5	0	0	50	1975
Zimbabwe	9	8	1	0	0	88.88	1983
Total	91	66	22	0	3	72.52	-
Source:[1] Last Updated: 26 June 2019

The 1975 Cricket World Cup was the first Cricket World Cup. It was held in England in June 1975 and consisted of two weeks of one-day matches played 60-overs-a-side. The format consisted of a group stage, in which each team played the other three teams in its group of four. The top two teams from both groups would progress to the semifinals. Australia was placed in group B along with Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka. For this world cup, the Australian side was led by Ian Chappell. The ODI format of cricket at that time was new for most teams, and Australia was among more experienced one day cricket teams at that time, with a decent batting and bowling lineup. So they were considered among tournament favorites.

Australia first played Pakistan at Leeds, and as expected, won the match. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. All top order batsmen played well( Alan Turner, Rick McCosker, Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell). A quick 80 run off 94 balls of Ross Edwards took Australia to 278/7. Then a five wicket haul of Dennis Lillee helped Australia to bundle out Pakistan for 205. Australia then played non test playing Sri Lanka and were expected to easily win against the minnows. But though they won, their winning was not that one sided as expected. Once again Turner played well scoring a century (101 runs, 113 balls) and took Australia to mammoth 328. But Sri Lanka's batsmen played well and despite of Australia's strong bowling attack, were able to reach 276 in 60 overs. This match was also accompanied by lot of drama, as Sunil Wettimuny and Duleep Mendis got retired hurt off Dennis Lillee's and Jeff Thomson's deliveries, and were playing well. In fact, Sri Lanka could have won the match if they remained at the crease. With this win, Australia progressed to the semifinals. The last group match of Australia was with West Indies, the team who was dominating world cricket at that time. West Indies won the toss and elected to field first. Except of Ross Edwards and Rod Marsh, who showed resistance scoring half centuries, the rest of the Australian lineup struggled against West Indian bowling attack led by Andy Roberts and Keith Boyce, and Australia were all out for 192. None of the Australian bowlers could make an impact as West Indies chased down the target with ease. With this loss, Australia finished second in group B and had to face England in semifinals.

Australia won the toss and choose to field on a bowling friendly wicket. The Australians dominated the first innings, and with the help of Gary Gilmour who took six wickets, bundled out England for 93. However, they received a terrible setback in second innings as they were reduced to 39/6. From then on, Gilmour and Doug Walters played patiently and took Australia to an uncertain victory. With this win Australia entered the finals where they had to face a strong West Indies, who were the only team to which they had lost so far in the tournament.

In the finals Australia won the toss and elected to field. West Indian captain Clive Lloyd scored a century and enabled west Indies to reach 291/8. Among Australia only Gilmour bowled well, taking six wickets. In chasing, the Australian batsmen's running between the wickets turned out to be very poor, and five of them were run out. In fact, they never looked to chase the target, and eventually lost by 17 runs.

Australia's win-loss record : 3-2(runners up)

West Indies' record : 5-0(champions)

The second edition of the Cricket World Cup was held in 1979 once again in England and with the same tournament format as in 1975. This time the Australian team for the world cup was almost entirely different from the 1975 Cricket World Cup, and was led by young batsmen Kim Hughes. The team was somewhat less experienced than previous squad, but still were expected to put a decent show. This time Australia was placed in Group A, along with England, Pakistan and associates Canada.

Australia began their campaign with a huge loss against tournament favourites England. Batting first, Australia were in a good situation, with Andrew Hilditch, Rick Darling and Allan Border taking Australia to 131/3. But after Border was dismissed, the middle order, consisting of Graham Yallop, Gary Cosier and Trevor Laughlin, collapsed in run outs. The tailenders were also easily taken over by English bowling, and Australia was bowled out for 159. Then a half century scored by Graham Gooch ensured England chasing the target without much hassle, reducing Australia's next two matches to must wins. Australia were then knocked out in next match against Pakistan. Pakistan, sent to bat first by Australia, scored 286/7 in 60 overs thanks to Majid Khan(61 runs, 107 balls) and skipper Asif Iqbal(61 runs, 75 balls), who received support from other batsmen as well. For Australia, Hilditch scored 72 and Yallop scored 37, but they received little support from other batsmen as they failed to withstand Majid Khan, Imran Khan and Sikander Bakht, who took 8 wickets in total. Eventually, Australia was bowled out for 197. Australia played for pride against Canada at Birmingham in their last group match. Australian bowler Alan Hurst(5/21) ripped through amateurish Canadian batting and bundled them out for 105. The score was easily chased down in 26 overs with the loss of 3 wickets. Despite this win, this tournament is considered as the worst ever world cup tournament for Australian team, as they lost to both test playing nations in their group in a completely one sided manner.

Australia's win-loss record : 1-2(Group A, 3rd place)

West Indies' record : 4-0 with one washout(champions)