Updated 25 October 2026: Australia have won the men’s Cricket World Cup six times, most recently in 2023. They are still the only team to win it three times in a row, in 1999, 2003 and 2007.
Steve Waugh captained the 1999 side in England, and Ricky Ponting led them in South Africa in 2003 and in the West Indies in 2007. Australia did not lose a match at either the 2003 or the 2007 World Cup.
From 27 May 1999 to 16 March 2011, Australia went 34 World Cup matches without defeat: 32 wins, a tie and a no-result. Pakistan ended the run by four wickets in Colombo on 19 March 2011.
1999 World Cup: Australia’s second title
Australia lost two of their first three games, to New Zealand and Pakistan, and did not lose again. In the Super Six at Headingley against South Africa, Herschelle Gibbs dropped Steve Waugh, who went on to make a century and win the game.
After a tied semi-final against South Africa at Edgbaston, Australia met Pakistan in the final at Lord’s on 20 June. Pakistan were bowled out for 132 in 39 overs, and Australia won by eight wickets in 20.1 overs. Shane Warne took 4 for 33 and was player of the match. He finished the tournament as joint leading wicket-taker with New Zealand’s Geoff Allott, on 20 each.
2003 World Cup: unbeaten in South Africa
The defence started with a shock. The day before Australia’s opening game, Warne was sent home after a drug test taken in Australia showed a banned diuretic. Ponting’s side still won all 11 of their games.
In the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Ponting made 140 not out and Damien Martyn 88 not out in a stand of 234, as Australia reached 359 for 2. India were bowled out for 234 and lost by 125 runs. Ponting was player of the match, and it was Australia’s third World Cup.
2007 World Cup: a third in a row
Australia won all 11 games again in the Caribbean. In the final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on 28 April, cut to 38 overs a side by rain, Adam Gilchrist scored 149 off 104 balls, still the highest score in a World Cup final. He batted with a squash ball inside his glove. Australia made 281 for 4 and won by 53 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Gilchrist was player of the match, and Glenn McGrath, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 26, was player of the tournament, and then retired from international cricket.
Teams with the most Cricket World Cup titles
| Team | Titles | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 6 | 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, 2023 |
| West Indies | 2 | 1975, 1979 |
| India | 2 | 1983, 2011 |
| Pakistan | 1 | 1992 |
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 1996 |
| England | 1 | 2019 |
Australia’s other titles came in 1987, 2015 and 2023, when they beat India by six wickets in the final in Ahmedabad on 19 November.
Featured photo: SAEED KHAN/ MARTIN HAYHOW /YOAV LEMMER /ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP