Verdict

All the while that Lord's was shrouded by this afternoon's persistent drizzle, the television monitors in the press box were showing replays of a rather more classic encounter between these two sides

In any ordinary circumstances, you'd expect a side to canter to victory in a match where half the team registers either a hundred or a five-wicket haul

This was a day that nobody had quite anticipated, as West Indies fought back from a dire position of 187 for 5 with the sort of ease and poise that would have shocked even their most ardent supporters

Increasingly, modern bowlers' natural instincts are constrained by the coaching books, and two of England's, Liam Plunkett and Steve Harmison, fluffed their lines with robotic predictability on the third day at Lord's

Matt Prior always professed that batting was his first love. Today he demonstrated a voracious technique and a showman's love for the centre stage, to captivate a capacity Lord's crowd

The thing about Australia is that you don't know what hits you and nothing can prepare you for it

Few will write off Sri Lanka's chances of emulating the heroes of a decade ago

It's a pity that the World Cup had to wait for 47 days for a match like this one, but the stage demanded nothing less

The finals finally start next week but the increased importance of the affairs will not change Australian moods

Bangladesh's schizophrenic tournament came to a whimpering end on a pacy Kensington Oval pitch, but it would be unjust to remember this merry lot for their last match

And so England's World Cup campaign ended with an embarrassment that was perhaps appropriate. Indeed, it would have been a travesty if they had gone any further for they had furnished no evidence so far that they belonged

Only an ambush will be able to stop Australia from winning the World Cup

Bangladesh hope to get more consistent in their performances

Another day brings another defeat in a South African World Cup campaign fraught - like all four before it - with the sort of pitfalls and predicaments that would have been subbed out of Homer's first draft of the Odyssey

Dileep Premachandran's verdict on Australia's crushing of Ireland

England crawled to a paltry target with six wickets down, five overs left and plenty to fret about

Bangladesh will look back on this game as one that got away

Statistically it ain't over till it's over, but to all intents and purposes West Indies have bowed out of their own World Cup

At some point during this World Cup, Ireland were bound to get a hiding

This was the game that the World Cup so desperately needed