The five week-long cricket festival, the World Cup 99 in England, culminated in a comprehensive 8-wicket Australian victory over Pakistan in the Final match on June 20 at Lords, London.

The victory made Australia the only country, besides West Indies, to lift the cup twice.

The game of cricket should be taken in the spirit in which it is played. Though 12 teams from across the world participated in the tournament, there could be only one winner. But there were winners all the way and remarkable individual performances.

The format of the World Cup '99 was seen by many as less than perfect. Especially the rule about carrying forward of match points from the league stage. That took away much of the excitement from the Super Six matches.

Australia, which entered the super six without any match point, finally lifted the Cup, also pointing to the flaw in the points system.

Lance "Zulu" Klusener was the unbeaten individual champion of this tourney. He does not slog but gets his runs at an amazing strike rate to unnerve any bowling. As long as he is there at the middle, anything is possible.

Shane Warne came into his own in the final three matches. His deceptive spin made the batsmen dance to his tune. His haul of 20 wickets in the tournament was the highest, along with Geoff Allott.

Rahul Dravid top scored among the batsmen. It was a pity that India did not reach the semi finals, or he would have shown some more of his enormous talent.

Sachin Tendulkar disappointed his fans, but for the blitzkrieg of an innings, when he came back virtually straight from his father's funeral.

Indian skipper, Mohammad Azharuddin disappointed. One should not be surprised if he has to make way for Ajay Jadeja as Indian captain.

Bangladesh was the hero of this World Cup, not only defeating Scotland, but also Pakistan in the league matches. They truly deserve a test status.

The English weather was a disappointment in the beginning. But that was also a challenge. Overall, England organized a perfect World Cup, which goes to show that England is the true home for cricket. Yes, in the stadia in England all through the tournament, a distinct South Asian flavour was discernible.

We at IndiaExpress.com brought to you live coverage of the matches. We hope that we were able to satisfy. It was our endeavour, above all, to bring you accurate and prompt information.

We immensely enjoyed having you with us.

See you all again in August for the face off between Australia, Sri Lanka and India.

---