A brief history ...

The first attempt at any kind of world championship was in 1912, when a three-way series was arranged between the then current Test playing nations, Australia, England and South Africa. Dogged by 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. A resounding success, the tournament was repeated in 1979 and 1983 in England, before moving abroad, maintaining a four-year cycle. The next tournament takes place in the Caribbean in 2007.

A brief history of previous tournaments follows.