Steve Waugh's lifting of the trophy completed three years of planning and three of dreaming.

He held the Cup aloft from the Lord's balcony, accompanied by a huge roar from his fans -- and huge groans in Pakistan.

For the neutral fan, however, there have been plenty of other key incidents to store to memory.

The demise of South African Allan Donald, run out with two balls to go of the tied Edgbaston semifinal against australia, will never be forgotten, ending what many believe was the greatest one-day game of all time.

South Africa, beaten in the 1992 semifinal and 1996 quarter-final, needed one run off four balls to reach the Lord's showpiece.

Instead, Lance Klusener hit and ran, Donald failed to hear his call and Australia's players were soon mobbing each other in celebration.

Donald, his bat abandoned, stood alone. Klusener, the player of the tournament, had not even turnedround to watch the inevitable disaster unfold.

Steely-eyed, he ran on towards the pavilion and out of the competition.

``It was a moment of madness and total confusion,'' Donald said later.

One match before, another South African had wished the ground would swallow him up in a moment of horror.

Like Klusener and Donald, he will spend many nights pondering over the fickleness of fate.

Herschelle Gibbs had caught Steve Waugh at short midwicket at Headingley when, in the process of throwing up the ball in celebration, he allowed it to slip from his hands.

Waugh, then on 56, went on to make 120 not out and win the game. Had Gibbs taken that catch to win the game, Australia would have been knocked out and South Africa would have faced lowly Zimbabwe in the semifinals.

Gibbs was on the wrong end of another memorable incident a few days later.

Shane Warne, written off by many commentators, spun a ball from almost a foot outside the leg stump past the right-hand opener's bat on the way to clipping thetop of the off stump in the Edgbaston semifinal re-match between the two sides.

The delivery was a replica of Warne's first ball in a Test in England, which accounted for Mike Gatting in 1993 at Old Trafford and became known as ``The ball of the Century.''

Waugh said later that Gibbs' fall, the first of Warne's four wickets, had done such psychological damage to the South African batsmen that it won the game for Australia.

Pakistan's Shoaib akhtar, with 16 wickets, also had his fair share of moments.

His first ball of the tournament -- and his first in England for Pakistan -- was as dramatic as any that followed. Rearing off just short of a length, it beat West Indian Sherwin Campbell for pace, took the edge of his bat and flew for six over third man.

Later, an Akhtar delivery was timed at 95mph. His yorker to remove Stephen Fleming's leg stump in the first semifinal was another high-speed classic.

When he came across Klusener's 3lB 2oz bat, however, in Pakistan's second-round encounter with SouthAfrica at Trent Bridge, he found out that speed works both ways.

Klusener hit 17 off the 46th over of the innings on the way to victory.

The shot that stood out? A short-armed pull that sailed into the back of the mid-wicket terraces for six.

Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq accounted for 17 wickets at the World Cup but none was so valuable as his last against Zimbabwe at the Oval.

Mpumelelo Mbangwa may not be the most accomplished of players but his half-shuffle forward and the ensuing appeal for leg before earned Saqlain only the second hat-trick in tournament history.

For those preferring a little light relief, Inzamam-ul-Haq provided it.

A marvellous player and a dreadful runner, he was hit on the foot by a Damien Fleming yorker in the first-round match against Australia.

Inzamam crumpled onto the pitch, clutching his bruised toe. Looking up, he found his captain Wasim Akram standing next to him. At the other end of the pitch, Fleming was removing the bails.

For many, however, theWorld Cup's defining moment came at Bristol in the first round on May 23.

India were playing Kenya. Sachin Tendulkar, still jet-lagged after returning from his Father's funeral in Mumbai, had just reached his century off 84 balls. He would end his innings of 140 with a six.

He raised his bat to acknowledge the crowd and then, retreating into his private world, he glanced up and scanned the sky.

In five weeks of non-stop cricket, from May 14 to June 20, there was nothing more poignant.