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Points to ponder

The World Cup fever has died down, in England at least. It was six weeks of helter-skelter cricket - and helter-skelter travel around the country (with the occasional foray into Ireland, or Scotland, or Holland).

There was some great cricket. The semi-final between Australia and South Africa was an absolute classic -- up there with the greatest one-day games of them all. And Australia's march to the trophy, after they had looked down and out after three games, was wonderful to watch.

But there were rather too many one-sided games. I saw nine matches in person, and none of them had a close finish. The biggest let down, of course, was the final. Perhaps it was too much to expect another great game after that semi-final, but a nice close-run thing -- like the earlier group encounter between Australia and Pakistan -- would have been good.

There has already been much discussion of the merits of the Super Six system, and there will be lots more before the next World Cup. Carrying points forward from the group games had its merits on paper, but in practice it threw up rather too many anomalies. And it was difficult for the public to grasp what was going on, especially when the Aussies staged their infamous go-slow in an attempt to boost the West Indies' run rate.

This 'Carnival of Cricket' was supposed to bring in new spectators, those not well-versed in the game. It succeeded up to a point -- but lots of those newcomers will have been thoroughly bemused by that Australian dawdle to victory. The carry-forward system needs amending in future. The main problem is that it invested some matches with great significance after they had been played. And on the other hand, it was also unfair that the victory over England, which qualified India for the Super Six, then counted for nothing.

Several suggestions have been put forward for the future. My own remedy would be to carry forward half the points gained from all the group matches, rather than all the points from half the games. So South Africa and Pakistan would have taken forward four points, the other qualifiers three. And Pakistan would have had an incentive to beat Bangladesh in their last match: if they'd won they would have taken forward five points.

My other change would be to make sure all the final round of matches in each group were played at the same time. New Zealand had an enormous advantage this time in knowing exactly what they had to do to qualify for the Super Six.

The above might make it sound as if I didn't enjoy the tournament, which is not the case at all. Indeed, it was hard to settle back down to humdrum county cricket (who are these chaps dressed in white?!) after the excitement of the World Cup. Fortunately, a seesaw first Test, when England beat New Zealand -- at Edgbaston, where England had crashed out of the Cup -- restored the faith, and provoked a look back at the heroics and heroes of the one-day extravaganza.

Several players emerged as global stars during the World Cup. There was Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar, the slinky speedster whose raw pace electrified his matches. He managed a 96mph ball, the fastest measured in the tournament.

Lance Klusener carried on his unbelievable run of form with that overweight club he calls a bat. He pounded out lower-order runs with amazing consistency, at an amazing rate -- and he took 17 wickets as well. After such a fantastic tournament it was a shame it all ended in tears, with that schoolboy run-out in the semi-final against Australia at Edgbaston. Maybe Klusener's final task -- one off four balls -- was too easy. Programmed to slog, he'd probably have collected another boundary or two if he'd needed them.

New Zealand's Geoff Allott, he of the bull neck, made a name for himself with 20 wickets, bending the white ball around early on. For India, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly charmed early on, and Sachin Tendulkar chipped in with that memorable hundred against Kenya. In the end, though, defeat against Zimbabwe cost them dear. Zimbabwe did for England too: their last-gasp upset of South Africa was what sent the hosts packing.

Zimbabwe did unearth a star of their own in Neil Johnson, and even Scotland turned up a gem: Gavin Hamilton, the Yorkshire allrounder who looked ready to step straight into the England side.

The so-called 'minnow' sides had their moments. Bangladesh, whose manager said before the tournament that he didn't expect them to win any matches, actually grabbed two -- the 'cup final' against fellow associates Scotland, and that emotional encounter with Pakistan. Scotland themselves started brightly, but fell away. And Kenya sparkled briefly. Their batsmen did well enough -- opener Ravi Shah looked well-organised, and Maurice Odumbe and Alpesh Vadher shared a Cup-record stand against Sri Lanka -- but the bowling lacked bite.

Favourite moments? Bruce Patterson's first-ball four off Damien Fleming for Scotland v Australia; Zimbabwe's unlikely hero Henry Olonga's magic three-wicket over to scupper India; South Africa's clinical demolition of Sri Lanka, fuelled by anger at two dodgy umpiring decisions; broad-beamed Roger Twose thumping New Zealand to victory over Australia; India's run-feast against Sri Lanka at Taunton, especially Ganguly's seven colossal sixes; Saqlain's match-ending hat-trick against Zimbabwe at The Oval; Shoaib smashing stumps in the Old Trafford semifinal.

But it will be those two classic encounters between Australia and South Africa which will live longest in the memory, and which will embody World Cup '99 in years to come. In the Super Six match at Headingley, Steve Waugh's steely 120 not out took his side to an unlikely victory just when they seemed to be going out of the competition for the third or fourth time. Don't forget Gibbs's crass dropped catch to reprieve Steve Waugh, who told the fielder what he didn't want to hear: 'Herschelle, you've just dropped the World Cup, mate.' And so he had.

So to that Edgbaston heart-stopper: Waugh again, with Bevan, taking the Aussies to a respectable score; Warne's four-wicket burst as South Africa seemed to be cruising to victory; Kallis, Rhodes ... and Klusener.

No wonder the final was an anticlimax after that little lot.

Steven Lynch is managing editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly, and a regular contributor to Cricket Unlimited