The World Cup is international cricket's biggest event and most sought after prize. The first Prudential World Cup was held in England in 1975 and was won by Clive Lloyd's West Indies. The all conquering Carribeans returned four years later to win the second Prudential Cup as well and looked well on their way to lift the trophy for a third consecutive time in 1983 before they were stunned in the final by Kapil Dev's Indians. This saw the World Cup move out of England for the first time and in 1987 it became the Reliance Cup, hosted jointly by India and Pakistan. Neither of the hosts however managed to win the trophy despite starting out as firm favourites and it was Australia under Allan Border which eventually lifted the cup. The 1992 World Cup was held Down Under but the Aussies couldn't repat the magic of '87 and it was Imran Khan's mercurial Pakistani team which beat England in the final to become the world champs. 1996 saw the World Cup return to the Indian subcontinent and for the first time a host side won the title with Sri Lanka led by Arjuna Ranatunga beating Australia in the final at Lahore. The Aussies, however, came back three years later to win the 1999 World Cup in England beating South Africa in a thrilling finale at Lord's.

The World Cup now moves for the first time to South Africa and Zimbabwe and there will be a record number of 14 teams participating in the event in February-March 2003 -- the ten test playing nations (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Bangladesh) along with four qualifiers (Kenya, Namibia, Holland and Canada) from the ICC trophy.