Back in 1975 when the World Cup was first played, it was an extension of Test Cricket. Similar rules, similar tactics and all the same set of players. To be fair, it was the best Test team of the time that won the tournament. The West Indies were starting their domination and their battery of fast bowlers was just getting together. Under the leadership of the canny Clive Lloyd, they were the best but this was a fact established only after the tournament.

That the tournament had no history made it tough to have any favourites. But once the matches started, it was clear who had the firepower. With just three matches in the group stage prior to the semi-final, it was going to be a short tournament. And apart from consistency, what was expected of the teams were short bursts that would give them the desired results.

The West Indies was the team that managed to do this successfully. Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia were all felled in the group stage and by the time the semi-final came around, the West Indians were building up a reputation. Through brute force, they had skittled out Sri Lanka for 86 and gone on to win the match by 9 wickets. It was much tougher against Pakistan, though, where they managed to chase down 266 only in the final over thanks to some good rearguard action by the wicketkeeper Murray. Australia, though, proved to be easier. Andy Roberts led the attack picking up 3/39 as Australia crashed to 192 all out. Riding on the back of fine innings of 78 by Alvin Kallicharan, the Windies won with almost 14 overs to spare and with 7 wickets still standing.

In the semi-final, the Windies were facing New Zealand. Bernard Julien, one of the lesser known Windies pacemen, rattled them with a spell of 12-5-27-4. New Zealand collapsed to 158 all out and the West Indies had no trouble in chasing this total down. Kallicharan (72) and Greenidge (55) were the main architects of the chase.

It was all looking ridiculously easy for the West Indies and the final proved no different. Batting first, they were in some trouble at 3/50 but Clive Lloyd scored a fine 102 and put on two crucial partnerships with Rohan Kanhai (55) and Keith Boyce (34). West Indies' total of 291 was going to look more like 350 with the bowling they possessed. To their credit, Australia made a match of it thanks largely to Ian Chappell's 62 but Keith Boyce (4/50) and Viv Richards, who accounted for three run-outs, kept them at bay. The Windies had won the inaugural World Cup by 17 runs and it was a fitting champion.

By 1979, the Windies pacemen had built up a reputation for themselves. This, and by virtue of being defending champions, made the West Indies the team to beat in 1979. Once again played in England, the tournament followed an identical format to the one in 1975. The groups had been shuffled around a bit, but that was about it! West Indies played India in the opening game and made really short work of a target of 191. Gordon Greenidge scored 106* and his opening partnership of 138 with Desmond Haynes (47) effectively put India out of the match. In any case, India could never stand up to the pace of Michael Holding (4/33).

West Indies' next match against Sri Lanka was abandoned due to rain, but that would not affect a team who's main motto was to win convincingly! New Zealand was next and West Indies put up 244 for 7 with Greenidge (65) and Lloyd (73*) leading the way. Roberts (3/43) and Garner (2/45) snuffed out whatever challenge NZ had and the West Indies won by 32 runs to make their second successive semi-final.

Playing Pakistan in the semi-final was always going to be an uphill task, but the West Indian top order was in great form and especially Greenidge (73) was batting so well that it seemed inevitable that a score of 293 would be put up. Despite the best efforts of Majid Khan (81) and Zaheer Abbas (93), Pakistan could not win. These two had put together a great partnership of 166 runs, but it had taken too long. All the batsmen that followed had to throw their bat to score quickly and this cost them the match.

The final was going to be against hosts England who had beaten New Zealand and many expected this to be an equally-matched affair. But Viv Richards (138) and Collis King (86) launched such a savage assault that the English bowlers could not respond. At one time, the English were in a position of strength having reduced the Windies to 99/4. Having barely recovered from the bowling debacle, England found themselves in a hole when the openers took an eternity to score 129 runs. The speed at which they scored put England at a distinct disadvantage and the last 8 wickets fell for just 11 runs as England came up short by 92 runs.

The West Indies had not lost even one match in the first two World Cups. At the end of the 1979 tournament, they were unanimously hailed as the best in the world. And there weren't any who could argue against it with any purpose. Clive Lloyd remains the only captain to have won two World Cups and the West Indies is the only team to have gone through two tournaments without losing a match. Such was their dominance even four years later that when they lost, it was thought of as an aberration!

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