Editing 1975 Cricket World Cup (section)

== Preparations ==
Heading into the first Cricket World Cup, the [[Ladbrokes Coral|Ladbrokes]] betting agency had the [[West Indies cricket team|West Indies]] as the favourites at 9–4. This was followed by England at 11–4 with [[Pakistan national cricket team|Pakistan]] and Australia in third and fourth respectively. East Africa was last in the betting odds at 1500–1.<ref name=Betting>Browning (1999), p. 5</ref> Before the tournament, most of the teams played in warm-up matches against English county sides to get used to the English conditions with most of the national teams getting wins. Only East Africa,<ref>{{cite news|date=3 June 1975|title=East African Hammered|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=England|page=26}}</ref> Sri Lanka<ref name=AustraliaSquad>{{cite news|date=5 June 1975|title=Australians Name their Squad|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=England|page=30}}</ref> and [[India national cricket team|India]] lost at least one warm-up match before the tournament.<ref>{{cite news|date=6 June 1975|title=One-Day Tour Matches|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=England|page=26}}</ref> Australia played in Canada, losing to Eastern Canada and drawing with Toronto, before heading to England.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=lL5f5cZgq8MC&dat=19750526&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Loss to Canadians spur Ian Chappell|date=26 May 1975|location=[[Toronto]]|work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=lL5f5cZgq8MC&dat=19750529&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Cricket hosts left off hook|date=29 May 1975|location=Toronto|work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref>

Eight days before the World Cup, the ICC declared in a unanimous decision that any of the balls that went over a batsman's head would be called [[Wide (cricket)|wide]] due to the fast short-pitched bowling.<ref>{{cite news|date=31 May 1975|title=Overhead Wides|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=England|page=25}}</ref>