The winter?s Tale

The milk maid

One day a milk maid was carrying milk to the market. She fell in day-dreaming. She thought she would buy eggs with the money she got after selling the milk. The eggs would give her a large number of chickens. The chickens would fetch her a fair price. Then she would buy a fine silk dress for her. Most of the young men would like to marry her. But she would toss her head. Just then the pail of milk fell down. All her plans ended in smoke.

Moral - Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

Avian influenza in birds

Avian influenza is an infection caused by avian (bird) influenza (flu) viruses. These influenza viruses occur naturally among birds. Wild birds worldwide carry the viruses in their intestines, but usually do not get sick from them. However, avian influenza is very contagious among birds and can make some domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks, and turkeys, very sick and kill them.

Infected birds shed influenza virus in their saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Susceptible birds become infected when they have contact with contaminated secretions or excretions or with surfaces that are contaminated with secretions or excretions from infected birds. Domesticated birds may become infected with avian influenza virus through direct contact with infected waterfowl or other infected poultry, or through contact with surfaces (such as dirt or cages) or materials (such as water or feed) that have been contaminated with the virus.

Infection with avian influenza viruses in domestic poultry causes two main forms of disease that are distinguished by low and high extremes of virulence. The ?low pathogenic? form may go undetected and usually causes only mild symptoms (such as ruffled feathers and a drop in egg production). However, the highly pathogenic form spreads more rapidly through flocks of poultry. This form may cause disease that affects multiple internal organs and has a mortality rate that can reach 90-100% often within 48 hours.

Human infection with avian influenza viruses

There are many different subtypes of type A influenza viruses. These subtypes differ because of changes in certain proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus (hemagglutinin [HA] and neuraminidase [NA] proteins). There are 16 known HA subtypes and 9 known NA subtypes of influenza A viruses. Many different combinations of HA and NA proteins are possible. Each combination represents a different subtype. All known subtypes of influenza A viruses can be found in birds.

Usually, ?avian influenza virus? refers to influenza A viruses found chiefly in birds, but infections with these viruses can occur in humans. The risk from avian influenza is generally low to most people, because the viruses do not usually infect humans. However, confirmed cases of human infection from several subtypes of avian influenza infection have been reported since 1997. Most cases of avian influenza infection in humans have resulted from contact with infected poultry (e.g., domesticated chicken, ducks, and turkeys) or surfaces contaminated with secretion/excretions from infected birds. The spread of avian influenza viruses from one ill person to another has been reported very rarely, and transmission has not been observed to continue beyond one person.

?Human influenza virus? usually refers to those subtypes that spread widely among humans. There are only three known A subtypes of influenza viruses (H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2) currently circulating among humans. It is likely that some genetic parts of current human influenza A viruses came from birds originally. Influenza A viruses are constantly changing, and they might adapt over time to infect and spread among humans.

During an outbreak of avian influenza among poultry, there is a possible risk to people who have contact with infected birds or surfaces that have been contaminated with secretions or excretions from infected birds.

Symptoms of avian influenza in humans have ranged from typical human influenza-like symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches) to eye infections, pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases (such as acute respiratory distress), and other severe and life-threatening complications. The symptoms of avian influenza may depend on which virus caused the infection.

Studies done in laboratories suggest that some of the prescription medicines approved in the United States for human influenza viruses should work in treating avian influenza infection in humans. However, influenza viruses can become resistant to these drugs, so these medications may not always work. Additional studies are needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of these medicines.

Avian Influenza A (H5N1)

Influenza A (H5N1) virus ? also called ?H5N1 virus? ? is an influenza A virus subtype that occurs mainly in birds, is highly contagious among birds, and can be deadly to them. H5N1 virus does not usually infect people, but infections with these viruses have occurred in humans. Most of these cases have resulted from people having direct or close contact with H5N1-infected poultry or H5N1-contaminated surfaces.

Avian influenza A (H5N1) outbreaks

For current information about avian influenza A (H5N1) outbreaks, see our Outbreaks page.

Human health risks during the H5N1 outbreak

Of the few avian influenza viruses that have crossed the species barrier to infect humans, H5N1 has caused the largest number of detected cases of severe disease and death in humans. In the current outbreaks in Asia and Europe more than half of those infected with the virus have died. Most cases have occurred in previously healthy children and young adults. However, it is possible that the only cases currently being reported are those in the most severely ill people, and that the full range of illness caused by the H5N1 virus has not yet been defined. For the most current information about avian influenza and cumulative case numbers, see the World Health Organization (WHO) avian influenza website.

So far, the spread of H5N1 virus from person to person has been limited and has not continued beyond one person. Nonetheless, because all influenza viruses have the ability to change, scientists are concerned that H5N1 virus one day could be able to infect humans and spread easily from one person to another. Because these viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population. If H5N1 virus were to gain the capacity to spread easily from person to person, an influenza pandemic (worldwide outbreak of disease) could begin. For more information about influenza pandemics, see PandemicFlu.gov.

No one can predict when a pandemic might occur. However, experts from around the world are watching the H5N1 situation in Asia and Europe very closely and are preparing for the possibility that the virus may begin to spread more easily and widely from person to person.

Treatment and vaccination for H5N1 virus in humans

The H5N1 virus that has caused human illness and death in Asia is resistant to amantadine and rimantadine, two antiviral medications commonly used for influenza. Two other antiviral medications, oseltamavir and zanamavir, would probably work to treat influenza caused by H5N1 virus, but additional studies still need to be done to demonstrate their effectiveness.

There currently is no commercially available vaccine to protect humans against H5N1 virus that is being seen in Asia and Europe. However, vaccine development efforts are taking place. Research studies to test a vaccine to protect humans against H5N1 virus began in April 2005, and a series of clinical trials is under way.

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Languorous days in Ladour
Rajnish Wattas

Landour days; A Writer?s Journal
by Ruskin Bond. Viking. Rs 195. Pages 160.

IT takes a Ruskin Bond to turn an ordinary of life into an extraordinary story. And, while he is at it, his words flow with the ease of a mountain stream?sometimes puckish like a torrent; sometimes languorous like a river.

Landour Days is mellowed leaves culled from his diary; rather quaint notes to himself. Presented in the form of a cycle of seasons and months (and all that changes with them: be it the sighting of a new flower, a rare bird or an eccentric visitor), life in his home in Landour is never boring. As Bond writes in his introduction, "The journals are not just about writing life. They are about day-to-day living, my relationship with the world of nature (which in some ways has taken the place of religion), and with the people who live with me and around me."

He laces his everyday jottings with some of the most insightful reveries on his love for reading, life as a fulltime writer, on critics, writers and the writing process. Always a great one at making light of his personal hardships? the traumatic loss of his father at an early age, a lonely childhood, the struggle to publish his first book and survive as a writer on ?small cheques in the mail? ? the journal makes for a perfect, ?feel-good? bedtime reading.

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Thank you.

Beta chimanshu tumhari bat thik hai but these things should not be in study material place and can be placed anywhere else in goiit

No Sir.

I am Anupam Father and I am very unhappy that on one way your site provides study material and on the other hand things of nudity are appearing on the right hand side of the page.Please administrator do something toward it as the students should concentrate their minds only towards study not at other things.

The winter?s Tale

Most scholars agree that Shakespeare wrote The Winter's Tale in late 1610 or early 1611. The play's first known performance occurred at the Globe Theatre on May 15, 1611. Scholars have made speculative attempts at a more accurate dating of the play's composition, but such theories have not gained widespread acceptance. What most critics do agree upon is that the style and themes of The Winter's Tale clearly link the play to Shakespeare's other late romances. They conclude that The Winter's Tale is therefore a product of Shakespeare's final period of play writing and that the play was most likely composed after Cymbeline, which is believed to have been written in 1609-10.

The primary source for The Winter's Tale is a novel by Robert Green entitled Pandosto; or, The Triumph of Time, which was first published in 1588. The novel was reprinted a number of times after 1607 as Dorastus and Fawnia. In Pandosto, the title character is driven by passionate jealousy to drive away his friend and banish his infant daughter. This results in the deaths of Pandosto's wife and young son. Although this basic format closely parallels The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare did make some significant alterations to his source. Leontes's jealousy is quite sudden, compared with that of Pandosto. In Greene's novel, Pandosto is presented with an array of circumstantial evidence before his jealousy erupts. Also, the characters of Paulina, Autolycus, and the figure of Time are entirely Shakespearean creations. Other additions to the source include Shakespeare's sheep-shearing scene (Act IV, scene iv) and the statue scene (Act V, scene iii). Perhaps the most drastic alteration to Greene's novel is the restoration of both Perdita and Hermione to Leontes. In Greene's story, Pandosto's wife truly does die, and Pandosto commits suicide after learning that Fawnia, whom he has attempted to seduce, is in fact his long-lost daughter.

Little is known about the reactions of seventeenth-century audiences and critics to The Winter's Tale. Simon Forman wrote the first known account of the play in the form of a journal entry in which he summarizes the play's plot. Forman was most impressed by the character of Autolycus. Ben Johnson, Shakespeare's contemporary and rival, noted with displeasure a geographical inaccuracy in the play, which also appeared in Shakespeare's source, Greene's Pandosto. Both Greene and Shakespeare write about the seacoast of Bohemia, which in fact was a landlocked country. (Today, Bohemia is a region in Western Czechoslovakia and was formerly a part of Austria.) John Dryden considered The Winter's Tale to be one of Shakespeare's failed plays, along with Pericles, Measure for Measure, and Love's Labour's Lost. All of these plays, Dryden comments, are based on impossibilities or so poorly written that the comic parts do not result in laughter, nor do the serious parts produce concern.

The action of the play is generated by Leontes' jealousy. Perdita's banishment, Mamillius's death, and Hermione's supposed death are all effects of Leontes' jealous rage. It is not surprising, then, that many scholars and students of the play focus on the question of whether or not Leontes's jealousy is improbable. Few would argue that the king's reaction is justified, but some maintain that Leontes's jealousy is not a sudden and rash reaction, but rather has been building for some time and is present from the play's beginning. Others have analyzed Leontes's jealousy as one aspect of a personality that is obsessed with childhood.

Other issues that have generated critical commentary center on the play's combination of tragic, comic, and pastoral elements; on the debate between art and nature in the play; and on the dramatic effect and meaning of Hermione's restoration. Some critics find that the pastoral and comic elements of the play help to alleviate the tragic aspects; others argue that the pastoral elements are dark and disturbing in many ways. Two scenes in the play focus specifically on the art versus nature controversy: Act IV, scene iv, in which Polixenes and Perdita discuss the merits of cross breeding or grafting in flowers; and Act V, scene iii, where the "statue" of Hermione is revealed to be Hermione herself. These scenes are either read as evidence that Shakespeare was arguing that art is nature or, alternatively, that art is necessary to "mend" or perfect nature. In the last scene of the play, Paulina presents Hermione's statue and commands her to "descend" and reveal herself. Some commentators view this scene and the fact that Hermione has concealed herself for sixteen years as highly unlikely. They assert that Hermione's restoration was a cheap stage trick, designed to delight the audience but possessing little literary value. Others stress that Hermione's concealment is entirely justified and that her restoration at the play's end is moving and significant.

Hamlet, Prince of

Denmark

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Type of Work:

Tragic drama

Setting

Elsinore, Denmark; c. 1200

Principal Characters

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and son of the former king The Ghost, Hamlet's dead father
Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, and Queen of Denmark
Claudius, Hamlet's uncle and new stepfather, and now, King of Denmark
Polonius, Claudius'chief counselor
Laertes, Polonius' son
Ophelia, Polonius' obedient daughter
Horatio, Hamlet's faithful friend

Story Overview

Prince Hamlet bitterly opposed the marriage of his mother, Gertrude, to Claudius, her own brother-in-law, so soon after her husband's death. Moreover, Hamlet had a strange suspicion that the new king - his stepfather and former uncle - had somehow plotted his father's mysterious demise, and he refused to cease mourning his natural father, now two months dead.

As Hamlet languished in resentfulness, he was approached by his close friend Horatio, who revealed that for three nights now castle guards had seen the former king stalking the parapets as a ghost. He persuaded the prince that his father must have some message of importance to impart, and thus Hamlet should wait with him that night for the ghost to appear again.

The bloody apparition was indeed the image of Hamlet?s father. In horror, the son listened with Horatio as the dead king described how his brother Claudius had seduced Gertrude, and how the two of them together had arranged for his murder, while claiming that a serpent had injected the fatal poison.

Hamlet was appalled - though not entirely surprised - at this revelation. But he was even more shaken when the ghost made a desperate plea: he ordered Hamlet to avenge his death by killing Claudius, but cautioned that Gertrude must be spared; heaven alone should punish her for her sins.

Now, Hamlet considered himself an intellectual, not a soldier or a man of action. This charge to exact revenge posed a real dilemma in the prince's mind. He swore Horatio to secrecy concerning the ghost and continued for the next few days to fret on what he must do.

Filled with suppressed anger toward both his mother and Claudius, and torn between doing his duty in honor and carrying out a most distasteful and bloody task, Hamlet began to act more and more erratic. Ophelia, his lady friend and the daughter of the new king's most trusted counselor, Polonius, reported Hamlet's eccentric behavior to her father. Polonius insisted that Hamlet had become demented, and cautioned Ophelia to keep her distance. He then reported Hamlet's bizarre turn to the king and queen.

Perceiving Hamlet as a possible threat to the throne, Claudius, Gertrude and Polonius hired two dull-witted courtiers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on the prince, to learn whether he in fact coveted their power or was merely mad. But Hamlet, within minutes, recognized the charade and the motives behind it, and caustically mockcd them. And shortly, it seemed to Hamlet that everyone - including Ophelia was a spy and an informant for King Claudius and Queen Gertrude.

By now the prince was dashed by doubts and worries. He began to wonder if his father's ghost had really appeared; maybe it had been a vision from the devil instead. After all, the thought of murdering Claudius, vile and hated though he was, still repelled Hamlet. But soon he struck upon an idea: a company of traveling actors visited Ellsinore, and Hamlet persuaded them to perform a murder scene that was actually a reenactment of the death of the old king. He was sure that if Claudius and Gertrude had in fact killed his father, their guilt would play on their faces and show in their actions.

The play proceeded. Sure enough, Claudius became so unnerved both by the drama and by Hamlet's sly, taunting comments, that he stormed from the performance, with Gertrude close behind.

Gertrude immediately sent for her insolent son. When he visited her in her room to discuss the matter, Polonius was hidden behind a curtain, listening. Soon the exchange between mother and son grew more heated and violent. When Polonius cried out for the guards, Hamlet, thinking he was Claudius, stabbed through the curtain and killed him. Amid this confusion, the ghost of Hamlet's father once more appeared (invisible to Gertrude) and again reminded his son of his original commission: to kill Claudius.

With renewed determination, Hamlet gripped his dagger and made for Claudius'bedchamber. But when he entered the room, prepared at last to do the deed, he found Claudius praying. This undid the prince's resolve; be could not slay this man while in the posture of supplication to God - a prayerful soul, he reasoned, would be swept straight to heaven, and Claudius deserved nothing higher than hell. So, the prince once again delayed his revenge.

Now Claudius, seeing the danger he was in, ordered that Hamlet be hurried off to England on the next possible ship. Again, Rozencrantz and Guildenstern were commissioned to carry out this errand, which secretly included orders for the murder of the prince on his arrival.

Several days before Hamlet was taken aboard ship, he witnessed a conquering Norwegian army marching past enroute to a distant battle. Their leader-captain was young Fortinbras, whose father had once lost many skirmishes and much property to Hamlet's own father. In harmony with his threats to invade Denmark to avenge these losses, Fortinbras, "a delicate and tender prince," was now dutifully acting on his father's wishes. Hamlet felt ashamed that he lacked equal willpower and character in response to filial duty.

As Hamlet was departing for England, Laertes, Polonius' hot-tempered son, arrived from Paris, seeking his own revenge. Enraged that Ophelia, his own sister, would allow Hamlet to escape unpunished, he lashed into her. Ophelia, now rejected by her banished lover and driven to madness by feelings of guilt borrowed from an embittered brother, drowned herself.

Hamlet, sensing a plot against his life, had altered his guards' orders: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, not he, were killed by assassins on touching English soil. The prince sent word back to Denmark that he had been captured by pirates and would soon be returning to his home.

Claudius was dismayed to learn that his plans to do away with his pesky stepson had gone awry. So, together with Lacrtes, he hatched a new plan: Laertes would challenge Hamlet to a duel and kill him with a poison-tipped foil. If the fencing match failed to do the trick, a poison spiked drink would be in easy reach of the dueler. One way or another, meddling Prince Hamlet would be no more.

Upon Hamlet's return, he and Horatio stood in a churchyard, discussing the prince's perilous journey. In the distance they spied a funeral procession. The two concealed themselves and looked on at the passage of Ophelia's funeral train, led by Laertes, pompously bewailing his dead sister. Unable to endure such a false and pretentious display, Hamlet leapt out of hiding and lunged toward Laertes. Both men were restrained, but not until after the challenge to duel was made - and accepted.

To diminish suspicion that he was in any way involved with the plot, King Claudius bet heavily on the practiced swordsman Hamlet. Then, according to plan, poison was dripped onto Laertes' rapier and into the convenient cup.

But things soon began to miscarry. First the unsuspecting Gertrude raised and drank from the poison-laced cup in a toast to her son. In the contest that followed, Laertes wounded Hamlet, and Hamlet in turn fatally pierced Laertes. Then, as the queen fell to the ground crying, "The drink, the drink! I am poisoned!" Hamlet demanded that the treachery be revealed. At this, dying Laertes spoke up and exposed the plot - the poisoned wine and the venom-tipped foil, whose effects Hamlet would soon feel. Laertes further divulged that "the King's to blame": Claudius had authored the entire miserable scene.

Hesitating no longer, Hamlet rushed forward, stabbed Claudius, and cursed the "incestuous, murderous, damn'd Dane." Then Laertes and Hamlet turned and implored each other's forgiveness, that they might both die in peace. Within minutes, Fortinbras arrived, and, with Hamlet's dying approval, appropriated the throne of Denmark - a throne so tragically twice vacated in the previous few months.

Commentary

What can be said about the most famous work of English drama? A lot, actually. In fact scholars have been pawing over this play for three hundred years, searching to explain the inner workings of its plot, and particularly debating why the intelligent young Hamlet had such a hard time mustering the courage to avenge his father's death. Often the only thing these scholars agree upon is that Hamlet's speeches and mannerisms are complex, allusive, and sometimes cryptic.

One thing is certain: Hamlet follows the conventions of a standard Elizabethan genre - the, revenge play" - of which there are many examples. But Shakespeare's poetic drama is by far more expansive and more ambiguous than any of these other works.

It has been suggested that the prince's delayed revenge, as opposed to Fortinbras' decisiveness, is meant to contrast two universal individuals - the man of contemplation and the man of action. The university-bred Hamlet analyzes everything too deeply and is thus prevented from taking any clear course:

... Thinking too precisely on the event
a thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom
and ever three parts coward, I do not know
why, yet I live to say "this thing's to do," sith I have cause and will and strength and means to do't.

But Hamlet's essential dilemma is one that has confronted men throughout the ages; and this confrontation -between duty and morality, courage and fear, right and wrong - will assuredly persist for all ages to come.

Anupam

?The region involved, a watery triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, measures less than a thousand miles on any one side.?
   . . .So George X. Sand introduced the Triangle to his readers in October 1952 in a short article for Fate magazine, entitled ?Sea Mystery at our Back Door.?
Sand?s article recounted the latest disappearance (the Sandra in 1950) and went on to discuss some of the other recent baffling mysteries like NC16002, Star Tiger and Star Ariel, aside from devoting most of the article to Flight 19.
   The Triangle remained a colloquial expression throughout the 1950s, employed by locals when another disappearance or unexplained crash happened.
   By the early 1960s, it had acquired the name The Deadly Triangle. In his 1962 book, Wings of Mystery, author Dale Titler also devoted pages in Chapter 14? ?The Mystery of Flight 19?? to recounting the most recent incidents of disappearances and even began to ponder theories, such as electromagnetic anomalies and the ramifications of Project Magnet. His book would set the temper for Triangle discussions thereafter. (Just in April 1962 Allan W. Eckert had written a sensational piece in the American Legion Magazine on Flight 19 ((?The Mystery of the Lost Patrol?)) which introduced some of the most popular but erroneous dialogue purported coming from Flight 19, including lines like the ocean looks strange, all the compasses are going haywire, and that they could not make out any directions, ?everything is strange.? This became a may pole for electromagnetic discussions).
   However, popularity on the subject was beginning to spread beyond the area of the Atlantic seaboard. But the moniker ?Deadly Triangle? contained absolutely no geographic reference in it? in other words ?Deadly Triangle? could be anywhere.
   Then in February 1964 Vincent Gaddis wrote an article for Argosy Magazine. The article was little different from others, though it added a few more recent cases like Marine Sulphur Queen. However, it was his title that finally clinched with the public: ?The Deadly Bermuda Triangle.? Adding ?Bermuda? finally materialized the location for everybody, though Gaddis clarified ?in and about this area? many have disappeared.
   In his popular 1965 book Invisible Horizons, Gaddis devoted chapter 13 to ?The Triangle of Death.? The concept of the Bermuda Triangle was spreading rapidly.
   Ironically, the first book published devoted to the subject was entitled Limbo of the Lost (1969) by John Spencer, in which he proposed the area had no real shape at all and elaborately tried to include the Gulf of Mexico as well as New Jersey. It sold in limited quantities, but was later reproduced in paperback in the early 1970s and did well.
   Dozens of magazine and newspaper articles came out in the early ?70s, each author offering a general shape. Richard Winer proposed ?The Devil?s Triangle? and extended it nearly to the Azores near Portugal. Ivan Sanderson was sure it was an oblong shape centered almost entirely north of Bermuda.
   But no book sold as well as Charles Berlitz?s 1974 bestseller, The Bermuda Triangle. Selling way over 5,000,000 copies in hardback, it became a phenomenon. Berlitz also cautioned about the exact shape, as had the others. But to this day Bermuda Triangle is deferred to for the same reason ?Deadly Triangle? failed?there is simply no other name that calls to mind the general area as does Bermuda Triangle.

Anupam

History

Before the first Cricket World Cup

The first cricket Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England, and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years. South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889.^[6] Representative cricket teams were selected to tour each other, resulting in bilateral competition. Cricket was also included as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Games, where Great Britain defeated France to win the gold medal.^[7] This was the only appearance of cricket at the Summer Olympics.

The first multilateral competition at international level was the 1912 Triangular Tournament, a Test cricket tournament played in England between all three Test playing nations at the time: England, Australia and South Africa. The event was not a success: the summer was exceptionally wet, making play difficult on damp uncovered piches, and attendances were poor, attributed to a "surfeit of cricket".^[8] In subsequent years, international Test cricket has been generally been organised as bilateral series: a multilateral Test tournament was not organised again until the quadrangular Asian Test Championship in 1999.

The number of nations playing Test cricket increased gradually over the years, with the addition of West Indies in 1928, New Zealand in 1930, and India in 1932, and Pakistan in 1952, but international cricket continued to be played as Test matches over three, four or five days.

In the early 1960s, English county cricket teams began playing a shortened version of cricket which only lasted for one day. Starting in 1962 with a four-team knockout competition known as the Midlands Knock-Out Cup,^[9] and continuing with the inaugural Gillette Cup in 1963, one-day cricket grew in popularity in England. A national Sunday League was formed in 1969. The first One-day International event was played on the fifth day of a rain-aborted Test match between England and Australia at Melbourne in 1971, to fill the time available and as compensation for the frustrated crowd. It was a forty over match with eight balls per over.^[10]

The success and popularity of the domestic one-day competitions in England and other parts of the world, as well as the early One-day Internationals, prompted the ICC to consider organising a Cricket World Cup.^[11]
^{] Prudential World Cups

The Prudential Cup being lifted by Clive Lloyd after West Indies won the first Cricket World Cup.
The inaugural Cricket World Cup was hosted in 1975 by England, the only nation able to put forward the resources to stage an event of such magnitude at that time.[12] The first three events were held in England and officially known as the Prudential Cup after the sponsors Prudential plc. The matches consisted of 60 six-ball overs per team, played during the daytime in traditional form, with the players wearing cricket whites and using red cricket balls.[13]
Eight teams participated in the first tournament: Australia, England, the West Indies, Pakistan, India, and New Zealand (the six Test nations at the time), together with Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa.[14] One notable omission was South Africa, who were banned from international cricket due to apartheid. The tournament was won by the West Indies, who defeated Australia by 17 runs in the final at Lord's.[14]

Kapil Dev, captain of India, holding the trophy in 1983.
The 1979 World Cup saw the introduction of the ICC Trophy competition to select non-Test playing teams for the World Cup,[15] with Sri Lanka and Canada qualifying.[16] West Indies won a second consecutive World Cup tournament, defeating the hosts, England, by 92 runs in the final. At a meeting which followed the World Cup, the International Cricket Conference agreed to make the competition a quadrennial event.[16]
The 1983 event was hosted by England for a third consecutive time. By this time, Sri Lanka had become a Test playing nation, and Zimbabwe qualified through the ICC Trophy. A fielding circle was introduced, 30 yards away from the stumps. Four fieldsmen needed to be inside it at all times.[17] India, an outsider quoted at 66-1 to win by bookmakers before the competition began, were crowned champions after upsetting the West Indies by 43 runs in the final.[11][18]
[edit] 1987 ? present
The 1987 tournament was held in India and Pakistan, the first time that the competition was held outside England. The games were reduced from 60 to 50 overs per innings, the current standard, because of the shorter daylight hours in the Indian subcontinent compared with England's summer.[19] Australia won the championship by defeating England by 7 runs in the final, the closest margin in World Cup final history.[20][21]
The 1992 World Cup, held in Australia and New Zealand, introduced many changes to the game, such as coloured clothing, white balls, day/night matches, and an alteration to the fielding restrictions. The South African cricket team participated in the event for the first time, following the fall of the apartheid regime and the end of the international sports boycott.[22] Pakistan overcame a dismal start to emerge as winners, defeating England by 22 runs in the final.[23]
The 1996 championship was held in the Indian subcontinent for a second time, with the inclusion of Sri Lanka as host for some of its group stage matches.[24] In the semi-final, Sri Lanka, heading towards a crushing victory over India at Eden Gardens (Calcutta) after their hosts lost eight wickets while scoring 120 runs in pursuit of 254, were awarded victory by default after riots broke out in protest against the Indian performance.[25] Sri Lanka went on to win their maiden championship by defeating Australia by seven wickets in the final, which was held in Lahore.[26]

Australia won the 1999 and 2003 World Cups.
In 1999 the event, was hosted by England, with some matches also being held in Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands.[27][28] Australia qualified for the final after reaching their target in their Super Six match against South Africa off the final over of the match[29]and proceeded to the final after a tie in the semi-final (also against South Africa) in which a mix-up between South African batsmen Lance Klusener and Allan Donald saw Donald drop his bat and stranded mid-pitch to be run out. In the final, Australia dismissed Pakistan for 132 and then reaching the target in less than 20 overs, with eight wickets in hand.[30]
South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya hosted the 2003 World Cup. The number of teams participating in the event increased from twelve to fourteen. Kenya's victories over Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and a forfeit by the New Zealand team, which refused to play in Kenya because of security concerns, enabled Kenya to reach the semi finals, where they lost to India. In the final, Australia made 359 runs for the loss of two wickets, the largest ever total in a final, defeating India by 125 runs.[5][31]
[edit] Format
[edit] Qualification

World Cricket League Official Logo
Main article: Cricket World Cup qualification
The Test-playing nations and ODI-playing nations qualify automatically for the the World Cup finals, while the other teams have to qualify through a series of preliminary qualifying tournaments.
Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the second World Cup, where two of the eight places in the finals were awarded to the leading teams in the ICC Trophy.[15] The number of teams selected through the ICC Trophy has varied throughout the years. Currently, six teams are selected for the Cricket World Cup. The World Cricket League (administered by the International Cricket Council) is the qualification system provided to allow the Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC more opportunities to qualify. In 2009, the name "ICC Trophy" will be changed to "ICC World Cup Qualifier".[32]
Under the current qualifying process, the World Cricket League, all 87 Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC are able to qualify for the World Cup. Associate and Affiliate members must play between two and five stages in the ICC World Cricket League to qualify for the World Cup finals, depending on the Division in which they start the qualifying process.
Process summary in chronological order:
Regional tournaments: Top teams from each regional tournaments will be promoted to a division depending on the teams' rankings according to the ICC and each division's empty spots.
Division One: 6 Teams - All qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
Division Three: 8 Teams ? Top 2 promoted to Division Two.
Division Two: 6 Teams ? Top 4 qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
Division Five: 8 Teams ? Top 2 promoted to Division Four.
Division Four: 5 Teams - Top 2 promoted to Division Three.
Division Three(second edition): 6 Teams ? Top 2 qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
World Cup Qualifier: 12 Teams ? Top 6 are awarded ODI status and qualify for the World Cup.
[edit] Tournament
See also: Historical formats of final tournament
The format of the Cricket World Cup has changed greatly over the course of its history. Each of the first four tournaments was played by eight teams, divided into two groups of four.[33] There competition comprised two stages, a group stage and a knock-out stage. The four teams in each group played each other in the round-robin group stage, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals played against each other in the final. With the return of South Africa in 1992 after the ending of the apartheid boycott, nine teams played each other once in the group phase, and the top four teams progressed to the semi-finals.[34] The tournament was further expanded in 1996, with two groups of six teams.[35] The top four teams from each group progressed to quarter-finals and semi-finals.
A new format was used for the 1999 and 2003 World Cups. The teams were split into two pools, with the top three teams in each pool advancing to the "Super 6".[36] The "super 6" teams played the three other teams that advanced from the other group. As they advanced, the teams carried their points forward from previous matches against other teams advancing alongside them, giving them an incentive to perform well in the group stages.[36] The top four teams from the "Super 6" stage progressed to the semi-finals, with winners playing in the final.
The 2007 World Cup will feature 16 teams allocated into four groups of four.[37] Within each group, the teams will play each other in a round-robin format. Teams will earn points for wins and half-points for ties. The top two teams from each group, a total of eight, will move forward to the " Super 8" round. The "Super 8" teams will play the other six teams that progressed from the different groups. Teams will earn points in the same way as the group stage, but will also bring points scored against the other team who qualified from the same group to the "Super 8" stage.[38] The top four teams from the "Super 8" round will advance to the semi-finals, and the winners of the semi-finals will compete in the final.
[edit] Trophy
Main article: Cricket World Cup Trophy

The first permanent Cricket World Cup trophy was won by}