How Many Times England Won Cricket World Cup?

The England Cricket team has won three cricket World Cups so far - one ODI and two T20I World Cups. The Three Lions would win their first-ever World Cup title in 2010 in the T20I format under the captain of Paul Collingwood before Eoin Morgan created history by lifting the coveted ODI World Cup in 2019.

Interestingly, despite being the country that invented Cricket and hosted the ODI World Cup six times, the Britishers had remained trophyless for 44 years before finally lifting the title. Below is the list of England’s performance at all World Cup campaigns.

Coming close in consecutive World Cups - 1975, 1979 and 1983

Despite West Indies being the favourites approaching the inaugural 1975 World Cup, hosts England were counted amongst the title contenders given their familiarity with home conditions. And they did start strongly with a 202-run win over India at the Lord’s, before going on to beat New Zealand by 80 runs and East Africa by 196 runs. However, England’s run ended against old foe Australia, who won the semi-final by four wickets in a one-sided encounter.    

The following World Cup in 1979 didn’t have a different context. The tournament was again hosted by England with the Men in Maroon being the favourites with the hosts coming a close second. This time, however, England did reach the final hurdle by beating Australia, Canada, Pakistan and New Zealand. But, West Indies were too strong an opponent for them in the finale.

The 1983 World Cup was held in a round-robin format that left much scope for tweaking tactics and rectifying mistakes along the way and England started strongly yet again, with dominant wins over New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, before the Kiwis defeated England in the reverse fixture. However, England still reached the semis by beating Pakistan and Sri Lanka, only to lose to India at the semis this time.

England finished as runners-up in consecutive editions - 1987 & 1992

The World Cup had moved out of England for the first time and the Britishers surprised everyone by reaching the final in subcontinental conditions. West Indies’ dominance was evidently waning, as England would beat them twice in the group stages apart from getting the better of Sri Lanka on both occasions. After a 35-run win over hosts India, England looked favourites to win the title this time, before Australia emerged as the winners in the final.

Australia and New Zealand were hosting the World Cup in 1992 with the defending champions being the obvious favourites. However, after they failed to proceed from the group stages, England seemed to be a strong contender. It wasn’t an easy run as they lost to New Zealand and Zimbabwe in the last two group-stage games and still managed to reach the knockout stages to face South Africa. A rain-effected game helped England to reach the final for the second consecutive year against an inconsistent Pakistan side, captained by an aged Imran Khan. However, they would flounder this chance as well, with Imran Khan ending his career with a World Cup title.

England’s Dark Age - 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015

Having so many close calls and still missing out on the World Cup title did affect them in the worst possible way. England were reduced to mere participants in the 1996 World Cup hosted in the subcontinent again, and they remained that way for 19 long years.

The ‘96 World Cup saw England win just two of their group-stage games against UAE and Netherlands and still manage to reach the quarter-final, where they were thrashed by Sri Lanka.

England would host the World Cup after 24 years in 1999 and were expected to have a good outing. However, they couldn’t go past the group stage itself after losing to South Africa and India, thereby finishing fourth in the points table. England’s performance remained middling in the 2003 World Cup as well, as they lost to India, Australia and Zimbabwe to get eliminated from the group stages yet again.

The 2007 World Cup had 14 teams participating and England would beat Canada and Kenya to qualify for the Super 8s. However, barring small victories against Ireland and Bangladesh, England failed to win their games against Sri Lanka, Australia, South Africa and West Indies to end their campaign.

With a star-studded Indian team hosting the World Cup in 2011 and three-time World Cup champions Australia going strong as well, an underwhelming English side had little chance to make an impact. Their highlight of this edition was tying a game against India by levelling the score of 338 runs. Barring that, England would be beaten by Bangladesh and Ireland in the group stages before Sri Lanka ended their campaign in the quarter-finals.

England approached the 2015 World Cup on a poor note with Alastair Cook getting sacked months before the tournament as Eoin Morgan led the, which went off-rail from the get-go. They would lose to Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to get eliminated from the group stages.

England wins first World Cup after 44 years - 2019

Interestingly, hosts England were far from being counted among the title contenders ahead of the 2019 World Cup. An uber-aggressive approach under captain Morgan did make them a much better ODI team but the likes of Australia, India and New Zealand were still the team to beat.

England didn’t have a spotless group stage run either, with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia beating the hosts quite comfortably in their backyard. England would qualify for the knockout stages from the third position, winning six of their nine games. However, against Australia in the semi-finals, the team really turned up by restricting the defending champions to just 223 runs and winning the match by eight wickets.

The summit clash against New Zealand is the closest ODI World Cup match ever played, let alone a final. After restricting New Zealand to 241 runs, England would just manage to reach the total, thereby sending the match into a super over. To everyone’s surprise, even the super-over would end in a tie before England was declared the winner owing to their higher boundary count in the match.

England lift T20I World Cup in third attempt - 2010

A new-look hyperactive English side under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood took the 2010 T20I World Cup by storm. After starting the tournament on a shaky note, losing to West Indies and sharing the spoils with Ireland, England went on a five-match winning streak to lift the title.

They defeated Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand to reach the semis and produced a domineering performance against Sri Lanka. The final against Australia was no different as England won by seven wickets to lift their first-ever ICC World Cup title.