They should only hold the World Cup at the champions country. That way it would be in Australia's back yard for most of the time, where it should belong. Only the Aussies know how to put on a showpiece of a World Cup, the most memorable being the one from Down Under in 92.

Its about time Australia got rewarded for their greatness. A few consecutive worldcups down there would begin to show the gratitude the entire world of cricket owes to the the men in yellow for taking the game of cricket to a whole new level.

Baggie green men, I salute you!

Nad Aslam, Sunderland, UK

"Bermuda, indeed"
Mr. Barnes, as a countryman of the smallest nation to ever qualify in a World Cup, I think you should be congratulating the team for making it that far!
At least the World Cup had its moments, such as Herschelle Gibbs' 36 over, and Malinga's 4 wickets in 4 balls

Tom Gutteridge, Cheltenham,

re: The whole concept of a Cricket World Cup is flawed because Cricket is simply not a world sport.

what ignorant tripe. do you really think that cricket belongs to those born in test countries? do you have any idea how many different nations competed in the world cup qualifiers?

this world cup was boring because certain test countries are just not good enough to compete with australia and sri lanka.

and whats with the 'too many no-hopers' comment? yes, bermuda was not able to compete. but thats besides the point. important thing is THEY PLAYED A WORLD CUP! but of course, for you and your privileged automatic qualification test status, that dont mean much, you qualify every time.

the qualifiers for wc 2011 start soon, and i hope nepal manages to make it. if we do, it'll be one of the best moments of my life. i dont care if we get hammered to a pulp in the cup itself, at least we GOT there. and that joy is something you elitist snobs will never understand

ajaya, kathmandu, nepal

Agreed. But,trust me on this. football world Cup of last year was far better. If debutants Angola could run down Mexico's throat only to lose 0-1, or Ghanaians could produce magic, France could come back from dead, it was really great to watch.
I think the problem is cricket takes time to develop in a nation. It took Zimbabwe three World Cups, to reach the minnow stage at the Test level. Sri Lanka took their time.
It requires equipment and infrastructure and long-term planning. Anyways to cultivate it beyond Commonwealth nations, like Holland, is stupidity. You need a rich culture, I guess. I also feel that the charm of cricket lies in its not being of slambang type, in other words in its subtleties and patience, like the five-day Test. It gives it its own character -- doesn't matter people criticising. Its better to have extreme feedback from both sides than to lose all your supporters. I guess the best formats were till 1996. Super Sixes and Super Eights should make way.

Khurram Habib, New Delhi, India

One of the problems is definitely the length of the tournament, plus with cricket it seems even longer as each match lasts for a whole day!

The minnows I would say are still not good enough really. The maximum number of teams should still be 12. But as has been shown this means less money!

CJM, London, UK

There is only one true test of cricketing superiority and that is a Test Match.

Given that it is necessary to have an abbreviated version for children and football fans, it may as well be 20Twenty or 10Ten. Whatever, anything but the unendurable tedium of 50 over cricket. Has there ever been a more predictable sport?

Yes Australia won with ease. Great. I'd much rather have won than lost I assure you. But the feeling down here, whilst happily satisfied, is nowhere near the outpouring of genuine pride and emotion subsequent to the recent Ashes Series. And that says it all really...

Spot on Simon.

Peter McGuinness, Gold Coast,

Simon, shut up! It seems the only saving grace of large sporting events is a succesful showing from England. Sure the World Cup was too long. Sure it doesn't have the majesty of the football World Cup or the romance of the olympics (although that event has terrible longuers as well), but Australia and Sri Lanka and at times a few other countries played some magnificent cricket. If England had only been half as good you, you would have been riveted.

Laszlo, Sydney, Australia

Now that the media circus is over will somebody please investigate Bob Woolmer's death properly. Some of us out here really care what happened to one of the few men of integrity left in the administration of international cricket.

Desmond Persaud, Wimbledon, London., UK.

The ICC is charged with nurturing the sport of cricket on behalf of those who love the game. Instead they treated cricket fans in the same way that a pimp treats a prostitute, exploiting them for financial gain at every turn and serving them up to sponsors and advertisers. I have heard stories of ticket holders being forced to change their clothes, or turn T-shirts inside out because they had the "wrong" logo just to get into the games, families were not allowed to take home-made food or water into the grounds or leave to get food during the game and so were forced to pay extra to eat in the ground. To run the tournament in this way in the West Indies, which is poor financially but rich in terms of passion and partying is beyond dumb. Will the ICC learn from this experience that the fans will stay away rather than be exploited, and that without them their "product" is worth nothing? I am not holding my breath. Maybe its time for another "World Series Cricket" type breakaway.

Jack Read, Georgetown, Guyana

Over the moon for Ireland to get a crack at it and it will do the sport a power of good in the country.. but in fairness, 13 out of 28 of the super 8's involved Bangladesh or Ireland - which is a bit much for the neutral spectators. We probably would do just as much good with a few more high-profile games or a tour. When we got to quarter finals or soccer world cup we only played one game and it sparked 10 years of madness!!

Simon, London,

The answer lays in this Septembers 20-20. No time for nurdling, the batsman has to try and score off every ball.

vulcan webb, London, London

I agree with this article. What a boring tournament. The shortened 50 over game needs to be knockout. People will be glued to their sets with this format.

I think you forgot to mention the tragedy of Bob Woolmer and the corruption which still tarnishes this sport.

Michael Christie, Auckland, New Zealand

"In other words, knockouts good, leagues bad. This was a lesson learnt by the football World Cup after 1982, in which England went home without losing a match"...?

Hold on a minute, the same thing happened to Scotland in 1974! Of course England in 1982 was their first World Cup qualification for a generation. What "lesson" anyway?

Neil Valentine, purley,

Cricket enthusiasts should be thankful for the controversy at the end of this dullard of an event. If it was not for this buffoonery at the stumps, this world cup would have generally gone un-noticed by anyone outside of the shires.

What a lovely pastime - leave it in the Gardens of England where the hops grown wild and our internationals can sample the produce.

Gary Simons, london, uk

The whole concept of a Cricket World Cup is flawed because Cricket is simply not a world sport.

Ther ICC saw Football's World Cup and wanted a tournament like that to boost prestige. But soccer is played pretty much everywhere. Cricket is played seriously in at most ten countries.

If you were going to organise a proper Cricket tournament then you would have a knock-out tournament between the top eight test playing nations. Unfortunately the ICC would then have to admit that cricket is a minority sport.

Simon Allen, Melbourne, Australia

absolutely agreed on the farce that it was. and the terrible sadness of the loss of bob woolmer. l think it is also a shame that the organisation and administration of the 'worst event in history' has overshadowed one of the 'best team efforts in sporting history' by Australia. they played phenomenal and untouchable cricket, that resulted in a completely dominant performance, the like of which cricket has never seen before. the great teams of test match history may still provoke debate but as far as 1 day teams go l think we have definitely seen the best of all time here.

japaljarri, Alice Springs, Northern Territory

And what about Irelands contribution? Beating Pakistan and the last ball draw with Zimbabwe? Surely that's worthy of mention?

jason, Cork, Ireland

A farcical competition that ended in appropriate farce. A real shame as this should have been remembered as the final confirmation of greatness of this Aussie team before the likes of McGrath, Hayden and Gillie drift off to retirement.

The initial group stages were as you will always get in such tournaments, with inevitable mismatches but a few shocks. The loss of Pakistan and India from the tournament at this point obviously undermined the entire tournament from a competetive angle.

The Super 8 was too long, and the outcome obvious from the outset, with the two minnows struggling and under par performances from England and West Indies.

Unfortunately, the semi-finals and final did not produce any great contests, although there were some great individual performances.

Perhaps next time their should be 8 seeded teams (based on rankings) playing the 8 qualifiers in a knock out, then 2 groups of 4 prior to semis and finals. Shorter tournament and each game has more at stake.

Ian Blanchard, St Albans, UK

End of season rugby "7's" have formats that may help!

Bowl and Plate competitions allow minor teams more than one game: every game is vital to the participants: like ends up playing like.

Yes, there are downsides. Ticket and security issues might be too difficult (especially for sports followed by thugs such as soccer and...er!... soccer). Big stadia, small crowds may be helped by "three games for the price of one" consecutive games. I'm sure many good ideas are out there to stop the farces like the cricket just finished.

Ed Moran, Brixham Rugby,

couldn't agee more; the final game turned into a farce. Love cricket but really turned off for most of the games. Only one team in it the Aussies and coming from a Kiwi they were far superior than anything else going. Also a couple of kiwis involved and Jeff Crowe may have to look elsewhere. Some of the umpirng not up too class.

Kevin Kelly, Auckalnd, New Zealand

There was obviously an endeavour to to encourage participation by countries on the fringe, thank God! after all we got a great contribution by Ireland.
They managed to make the event very complicated and drawn out, many people lost the plot and relied on others to work it all out.
In fairness this has been noted and it had been anounced next event different, this was shortly after you wrote "Bet your skirt on Sri Lanka"

Frank H, London,

They had knock outs for the last eight games in 1996 and everybody whinged.

It won’t happen again.

Dave, Sydney, Australia