A damp squib rises from the Ashes

"You don't become a bad side overnight," was Michael Vaughan's plaintive appeal to the critics, after England had been thumped in the opening Test of this summer's Ashes. Yesterday, Ricky Ponting might have been tempted to reiterate those sentiments, after Australia's resounding victory in the opening match of the hubristically titled "Super Series".

A 93-run margin in a sparsely attended one-day match is hardly evidence of a brave new world, but Australia were a chastened side with a point to prove, and prove it they did, with a performance that was boyish and eager, and far removed from the colossal indifference with which they crushed Pakistan and West Indies in their last home encounters. Errors abounded, not least in the field, but the bottom line was the enthusiasm the Australians radiated. That alone was enough to seal the deal.

Sadly, such an observation doesn't say much about the quality of the cricket on display, and for the ICC, its eight official partners and the TV companies who paid through the nose for the rights to this bunfight, this was hardly an auspicious beginning. The concept of the Best versus the Best of the Rest lost its veneer from the moment the Australians lost the Ashes. An experimental line-up, featuring Simon Katich as an opener and a debut for Cameron White, was never going to masquerade as a Clash of the Titans.

During England's Ashes celebrations, Andrew Flintoff went splendidly off-message about the impending contest, saying it was about the worst prospect imaginable. Though he tried his best to salvage a lost cause yesterday, he had already been smeared for 66 runs in nine overs by an Australian line-up intent on cashing in on his understandable lack of intensity.

For the sake of the remaining three matches, a good old-fashioned shoeing is probably just what the World XI needed. For a one-off amalgamation of talented individuals, the urge to kick Australia when they were down was never going to come close to matching the Australians' desire to kick back at those who had written the side off. Now, however, several professionals have had their pride dented, and that can only be good for the spectators, however few and far between they may currently be.

One damp squib is not yet a reason to condemn the entire project, although the temptation is overwhelming. The appeal of these all-star fixtures has been dampened by the recent proliferation of Tsunami matches and Afro-Asian representative contests (none of which has come close to matching the magnificence of last January's hastily arranged and superbly embraced relief-fund fixture in Melbourne). In the last 12 months, Brian Lara has probably played more matches alongside Rahul Dravid and Muttiah Muralitharan than any of his West Indian team-mates, and his second-ball dismissal was indicative of a creeping cynicism attached to anything that is designed primarily to fill the ICC coffers.

And yet, contrary to appearances, this series wasn't born entirely of commercial greed. It was instigated at a time when Australia were streets ahead of all-comers, and there was a genuine reason to fear for the competitiveness of international cricket. Recent events have served to highlight that the gulf between the best and the rest remains gaping. For many cricket fans, the euphoria of the Ashes quickly gave way to the depressing reality of two more horrifically uncompetitive series - Bangladesh in Sri Lanka and India in Zimbabwe - and there's no guarantee of an immediate upturn in quality when West Indies arrive Down Under next month.

Given that what took place this summer was a once-in-a-generation phenomenon, those who are completely resistant to the idea of experimentation face clinging onto the memory of 2005 much as English fans have spent the past three decades replaying their videos of "Botham's Ashes".

But whatever happens in the coming days, it's not going to come close to rivalling what has gone before, and though that is not the ICC's fault per se, the decision to stage such a "big" series at the culmination of both an Ashes summer and Melbourne's Aussie Rules season was dim to say the least. Poor timing, poor crowds and poor competitiveness - it's not an alluring mixture.

At its very best, this type of contest can represent the pinnacle of a sportsman's career. Barry Richards told Cricinfo recently that the Rest of World fixtures against England and Australia in the Packer SuperTests were the most competitive he ever played, while for true rugby fans, there is nothing to rival the intensity of an all-guns-blazing Lions tour.

Unfortunately, as the Lions have discovered both in 2001 and 2005, the professional era is an increasingly unforgiving place for such ephemeral combinations. Sheer razzle and dazzle was once sufficient to create a contest in such matches, but the intensity, camaraderie and man-for-man planning that went into England's Ashes campaign and the All Blacks' demolition job are not the sort of things that can be conjured from thin air. The World XI need stimulus to spark their genius and overcome the Aussies' greater desire. But don't bet on it happening while the sky is blotted out and the crowds are turning their backs.