Border and Australia celebrate in 1987 (Allsport).

By Myles Hodgson, PA Sport Cricket Correspondent

1975 - ENGLAND

The growth in popularity in one-day international cricket, begun by England and Australia four years earlier, prompted the International Cricket Conference to stage the first World Cup in England.

Featuring the six Test-playing nations - England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, India and Pakistan - alongside Sri Lanka and East Africa, the tournament was covered only intermittently by a BBC outside broadcast unit and generated receipts of only £200,000.

The tactics of limited-overs cricket were also in their infancy - and India clearly failed to grasp the concept during the early stages, crawling their way to 132 for three in reply to England's 334 for four with Sunil Gavaskar finishing unbeaten on 36 from the 60 overs.

England, led by Keith Fletcher, eventually qualified for the last four but were crushed by Australia in the semi-final at Headingley with Gary Gilmour claiming six for 14. The West Indies hammered New Zealand en route to a comprehensive victory in the final at Lord's to establish themselves as kings of Test and one-day cricket.

1979 - ENGLAND

Unlike the inaugural competition, the second World Cup was disrupted by bad weather and as a result attendances fell for a tournament which followed the same format as its predecessor - only this time Canada replaced East Africa.

Defending champions West Indies once again dominated the competition with their awesome pace attack and progressed to the knockout stages alongside New Zealand. England, this time led by Mike Brearley, qualified from the other group alongside Pakistan.

Australia, depleted by Packer defections, suffered a rare first-round exit and cleared the way for England to reach their first final.

They did so by beating New Zealand in the last four, Graham Gooch scoring a superb 71 to steer his side to a winning total.

Predictably, the West Indies comfortably overcame Pakistan in the other semi-final to set up a closely fought final at Lord's.

Viv Richards' brilliant 138, the highest score in a World Cup final, guided the West Indies to 286 for nine. Despite a 127-run opening stand between Brearley and Geoff Boycott, England were dismissed for 194 with Joel Garner claiming five for 38.

1983 - ENGLAND

For the first time, the World Cup entered the world of big business. This was the first tournament to generate more than £1million in income and also provided the first major shock since its inception.

The number of games was increased with each of the eight sides, which included Sri Lanka following their recent elevation to Test status and international newcomers Zimbabwe, playing six matches at the group stage.

The tournament was given an early lift with Zimbabwe overcoming Australia, future England coach Duncan Fletcher claiming the man-of-the-match award with an unbeaten 69 and four for 42.

England were once again expected to challenge for the trophy but instead suffered a surprise defeat by India in the semi-final, who repeated the feat to end West Indies' dominance of the World Cup in the final to claim a six-wicket victory.

1987 - INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Staged for the first time outside England, this was also the first World Cup to reduce matches to 50 overs a side - and it was the first time the West Indies failed to make the final of the tournament.

While the West Indies were on the decline, Australia were on the rise and after struggling in the previous two tournaments they advanced to the semi-final and overcame Pakistan despite a brilliant 70 from Javed Miandad.

England also progressed to their second successive final, beating joint-hosts India in the last four after Graham Gooch hit a match-winning 115 before Eddie Hemmings restricted their reply by claiming four for 52.

The final was more closely contested with England falling just seven runs short of Australia's 253 for five despite being well placed at 135 for two in reply. Their challenge collapsed when Mike Gatting was dismissed attempting to reverse-sweep Allan Border's first ball.

1992 - AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

There were changes aplenty down under as South Africa made their World Cup bow following a long period of international isolation.

All nine competing nations first played each other on a round-robin basis, and the tournament was also the first to feature coloured clothing and day/night matches.

South Africa made an impressive entrance. They beat hosts and holders Australia by nine wickets in Sydney and progressed all the way to the semi-finals, only to lose out to England after the complicated rules for rain-affected matches left them needing 21 off only one ball.

England were destined to meet the talented Pakistan - unified for once under the leadership of Imran Khan - who had swept New Zealand aside in the other semi-final with Inzamam-ul-Haq playing one of the great World Cup innings to hit 60 from 37 balls and complete a four-wicket victory.

Facing possibly England's strongest ever one-day line-up, Pakistan were guided to a respectable 249 for six after captain Imran hit 72. Ian Botham suffered a controversial early decision, and England struggled to recover with Wasim Akram completing the victory by removing Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in quick succession.

1996 - INDIA, PAKISTAN AND SRI LANKA

Increased to 12 teams, there was once again a change of format with two groups of six and the top four advancing to the semi-finals.

Yet the tournament will be best remembered as the one when pinch-hitting became the vogue and was thrillingly demonstrated by surprise winners Sri Lanka.

The tournament was disrupted by a bomb blast in Colombo, prompting both Australia and West Indies to refuse to play their fixtures there and virtually guaranteeing Sri Lanka's progress to the quarter-finals.

That was bad news for England, who were humiliated in their quarter-final tie at Faisalabad, and favourites South Africa felt the backlash for West Indies' shock defeat by Kenya earlier in the competition when they were brushed aside by 19 runs.

West Indies lost to Australia in the semi-final, who were strong favourites entering the tournament's finale against Sri Lanka only for a brilliant century by Aravinda de Silva to guide the hosts to an emphatic seven-wicket victory.

1999 - GREAT BRITAIN AND HOLLAND

The most recent World Cup tournament was dominated by Australia's comeback from the verge of an early exit to comprehensively beat Pakistan in the final and prove, just as West Indies had done 20 years earlier, they were the best team in the world in both forms of cricket.

Hosts England limped out before the tournament had really got going, and Australia would have joined them in exiting at the first stage had they not triumphed over West Indies in their final group match.

That escape led them to two superb confrontations with South Africa, firstly in the Super Six stage when they claimed a five-wicket victory to ensure their qualification to the last four - but that only after Steve Waugh had been dropped on 56 en route to scoring a match-winning 120.

That error came back to haunt South Africa when they contrived to tie their semi-final against the same opposition. In scenes of complete madness, Allan Donald was run out with just one run required and three balls remaining, allowing Australia to progress to the Lord's final on Super Six superiority.

The final was nowhere near as dramatic, with Shane Warne restricting Pakistan to a lowly 132 by claiming four for 33, and Australia took only 20.1 overs in reply to complete their eight-wicket victory.