Australia showed they were the best side, in addition to being the most resilient and they were also involved in more good games than any other team. Nothing could have been more dramatic than their entry into the final via the tied semi-final with South Africa. They had only reached that stage of the tournament thanks to another gift from South Africa, which was appropriately described as, `Herschelle Gibbs just dropped the World Cup.' Surprisingly, for a team that plans so meticulously, South Africa seem to find ways to lose to Australia, suggesting they have a good plan A, but no viable alternative.

However, South Africa did provide the entertainer of the tournament in Lance Klusener and whenever World Cup 1999 is mentioned you can be sure it will be allied with the burly 'Bok. Surely Heath Streak willnever forget `The Klu,' who drilled one straight back at him and if the solidly built Zimbabwean hadn't deflected the rocket he'd have been decapitated. For a while Zimbabwe threatened to repeat Sri Lanka's 1996 rise from minnows to masters in a relatively short span, but the wonderful win over South Africa turned out to be their last heroic deed.

The Super Six experiment was a good one and it could be improved by making the simple change of allowing the qualifying teams to carry forward all the points they have rightfully acquired. A win is a win and they should all have equal merit -- two points.

What South Africa 2003 needs is a strong England and West Indies team to increase the level of competition for a Super Six spot, but I fear that may not happen.

In terms of performances, there were a lot of them. But some of them came when their team needed them most and that made most valuable. The perfect example of that was Shane Warne, who had a troubled period in the first half and he closed the WorldCup most wonderfully.