Too Long For Its Own Good

Not much time to post this morning as I'm off to play cricket in the wilds of mid Devon, but it won't take long to point out that in the end the World Cup got the final it deserved - one-sided, interrupted by rain and too long for its own good. The farcical scenes at the end, when some of the finest cricketers in the world attempted to play in the dark when they needn't have been playing at all, just about summed up a tournament which has been too long and has lacked the type of verve and drama which used to be synonymous with one-day cricket and West Indian cricket.

It's all been said before about Australia and Adam Gilchrist, but it can, and will, be said again. After Gilchrist's century at Perth during the Ashes series I described him as the finest wicket-keeper-batsman of all time and then spent some time mulling over whether I'd gone too far. I now have no doubts at all.

And, in the end, Australia were just too good for anybody. It's now up to the rest to try to catch up.