I am not a cricket player, but I am a fan of One Day cricket – especially when the Aussies are playing. But, if you had asked me in the mid-80’s what I’d thought about cricket, I would have said that it’s just about as interesting as watching paint dry! One Day cricket has changed my perception of how exciting the game can be, with its swashbuckling hitting and, very often, nail-biting finishes.

Last night, in South Africa, Australia registered its 14th consecutive One Day international victory, thereby remaining the only undefeated team in the 2003 World Cup competition. At one stage, they really looked like out of the game. In the end, in a low-scoring affair, their batting proved the telling factor and they pulled off a near-impossible win yet again. Compared to the dire situation the Aussies were in during the previous World Cup in 1999, where in order to win the coveted World Cup, they needed to win 6 games on the trot – which quite amazingly they did – this is a dream start. Let’s hope that they can maintain the momentum and thus becoming the second team in Cup history to have successfully retained the Cup in successive competitions.