So you think you know your World Cup cricket?

Why not test yourself at the Western Australian Museum’s World Cup exhibition – One Day from Glory – which goes on display today in the foyer at the WA Museum – Perth, and should help you join up the dot balls.

WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the Museum’s tribute to the World Cup, its history, its origins, highs and lows, and its controversies, will take you back through the journey that brought cricket’s greatest one-day prize to where it is today.

“The International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup is the pinnacle of the one day game, outranked in international sporting appeal by only the Summer Olympics and the soccer World Cup,” Mr Coles said.

“The World Cup is a unique event that pits not only the best against the best, but also provides a chance for amateur and part-time cricketers to test themselves against the professional elite.”

The WA Museum is extremely pleased to be working with Agence France-Presse (AFP) which has provided 50 photographs for inclusion in the exhibition.

“Cricket is one of many sports that AFP reports on globally. We are therefore delighted to work with the Western Australian Museum to show off some of our pictures especially in a country where cricket has a very large following,” said Gilles Campion, AFP’s Asia Pacific Regional Director.

The month-long exhibition, which opened today and is on display until 29 March, will provide an overview of the tournament since it was first held in England in 1975. (For the record, West Indies beat Australia in that final.)

It will follow the emergence of the one-day format and trace its surge in popularity in Asia, and particularly India, where it has become more popular and more widely followed than Test cricket. Along the way the World Cup has helped shape the cricket landscape by spreading the game to all corners of the world and offering established and aspiring cricket nations a chance of glory.

“The one day form of cricket, and the World Cup particularly, has played an important role in globalising the game,” said Mr Coles.

“For example, as the economics and popularity of the one day game have shifted, we have seen the increasing influence of India in shaping the cricket agenda.  India’s 1983 World Cup win was instrumental in this change and its impact is still being felt after all this time,” he said.

Entry to the exhibition is free of charge. The WA Museum – Perth is open daily from 9.30am to 5pm, excepting some public holidays.  For information go to www.museum.wa.gov.au

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Media contact:

Flora Perrella

Media and Communications Co-ordinator

Western Australian Museum

(08) 6552 7804 or 0424 027 646 flora.perrella@museum.wa.gov.au