Brisbane: The World Cup was largely a festival of cricket, played cheerfully and without the needle and edge that has sullied the sport in recent times. For that, the ICC and the players themselves can take the credit. The events of Cape Town 2018 and the rancorous atmosphere that preceded those dark days have left us with a legacy that may now be worth something.

It is no coincidence that this new dawn has been led by an Australian team that simply had no choice but to conduct themselves well. Credit where credit's due — they zipped their lips, smiled when they would normally have snarled and focused on themselves rather than trying to verbally unsettle their opponent. By and large, it worked too. Sixteen months ago, in the wreckage that followed Sandpapergate, a World Cup semi-final would have seemed a pipedream. Just goes to show that when you let your cricket do the talking, cricket can still be a beautiful game.