The major competition in international cricket is the World Cup. It is usually played once every four years. The first World Cup was held in 1975 in England. The West Indies won the championships under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd. In 1979 also, the competition was held in England and was again won by the West Indies under Clive Lloyd. The third world cup was also held in England in 1983 and was won by a Kapil Dev led India which came in with only a very outside chance of 1 in 500. The 1987 edition of the championships were held in the Indian sub-continent and was won by Australia under Allan Border. The next World Cup was held 5 years after it in 1992 in Australia and New Zealand. On that occasion, Pakistan won the Cup under Imran Khan. The 1996 edition of the World Cup was again held in the sub-continent and was won by Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga. The 7th edition of the

World Cup was held in 1999 in England and was won by Australia under Steve Waugh. The 8th World Cup was held for the first time in South Africa and was won by Australia under Ricky Ponting.

The second most coveted major title in international cricket is the ICC Champions Trophy. Started as the ICC Knock Out cricket tournament, it later transformed into a round-robin league competition entitled ICC Champions Trophy. Widely different from the Word Cup in schedule and game format, it is held once every two years. The first Knock Out tournament was held in 1998 in Bangladesh and was won by South Africa. The second Knock Out tournament was held in 2000 in Kenya and was won by New Zealand. The 2002 edition of the event was the first championship officially known as the ICC Champions Trophy. It was held in 2002 in Sri Lanka and both the finalists India and Sri Lanka shared the trophy as the finals were washed out due to heavy downpour and wet ground conditions. Champions Trophy 2004 was held in England and was won by the West Indies.

Other major competitions include the Ashes test series played between England and Australia, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy test series between Australia and India, the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series between New Zealand and Australia, Sir Frank Worrell Trophy test series played between the West Indies and Australia, and the six-day super test played between the top ranked test team and the Rest of the World. The ICC Trophy, ICC Under/19 World Cup, ICC Intercontinental Cup etc are the other majors held. The annual ICC Award Ceremony is a much-celebrated event in the cricket world. Awards for excellence are conferred on players ranking top in the ICC cricket ratings every year.