The first ever world championship was in 1912, when a three-way series was arranged between the then current Test playing nations, Australia, England and South Africa. Because of poor weather, the experiment was dropped and not repeated until 1975, when, following the success of domestic one-day competitions, the six Test-playing nations (England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, India and Pakistan) were joined by Sri Lanka and East Africa in the first World Cup in England.

In 1999’s ICC World Cup held in England Terry Blake, the ECB marketing director, introduced a new method of qualifying in the super six.

The 12 entrants were split into two groups, and the top three in each group went into the Super Six, carrying with them the points they had earned against the two teams who had also qualified from their group. They then played the qualifying teams from the other group, creating a final all-played-all league table, with the top four going into the semi-finals.

Sanath Jayasuriya, the dependent lion of Sri Lanka, scored 82 in five matches.
South African quicks blew SriLankan batsmen away making a strong statement in the final six.

Bangladesh beat Scotland, making a very respectable fifth in the Group B table.

Pakistan had lost three successive matches, but still managed to qualify at the top of the Super Six. Pakistan showed a remarkable performance in the first semi-final. It turned a traditional one-day theory on its head: it was decided by the unbridled pace of Shoaib Akhtar and Saeed Anwar sent the . Although he opposing dressing-room into turmoil.

South Africa's most feared batsmen No. 8 or 9 Klusener, one of the most successful bowlers in the Cup, had turned tail-end hitting into something close to an exact science.

Still Australia adjusted and the match was tied. But Australia went into the final with momentum and. On the final Judgment day, Pakistan team that did not appear to be at the best and resulted in a great loss for a Pakistan and a memorable victory to Australia.

World Cup 2003:
The hosts of the eighth World Cup wanted it to be the greatest yet. Indeed, this traditional organizers' boast rather came back to haunt the South Africans.

The nearest Ricky Ponting's side came to losing was in their final group match, at Port Elizabeth, when England had them 135 for eight needing 205.

Australia was unstoppable, runs poured from their bats while disciplined bowling drew opposing batsmen to their ruin; out of a possible 110 wickets. With the two strongest batting sides on show, including Sachin Tendulkar, there were high hopes of a taut, run-filled finale. But Australia, surprisingly put in by Sourav Ganguly in a move that betrayed Indian nerves, ran up too many runs. Ponting himself led the way with an unbeaten 140 from 121 balls that was a masterpiece in measured ferocity: off his last 47 balls he hit eight sixes and 90 runs in all.

The Ottawa Citizen proclaimed "Canada's Miracle on Grass" to countrymen more familiar with sport played on ice. It added: "Spunky Canadians Beat Top-Ranking Bangladesh”.

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