After five weeks of delicious competition, the game of cricket must surely be the overall winner from the World Cup. Although the final, between the two most richly talented teams in the world, was unanimously voted a disappointment, the spectacle was enormous.

Played at the world's greatest cricket ground, Father Time must have been nodding his approval as he witnessed another monumental contest upon the hallowed turf that he overlooks. Without a spectator in the ground, Lord's has the ability to capture a spirit so difficult to relay by words alone. A full house, like Sunday, makes for a spectacular occasion.

During the victory celebrations in the Australia changing-room, I recognised with fondness a large piece of crumpled and semi-torn white paper pinned to one of the honour boards on the wall. Overlooking the kit bags, bottles of champagne and excited players and supporters, this handmade banner stood as proud as Steve Waugh and his men. As strange as it may sound, it appeared to be almost smiling like a wise old man, enjoying the part it had played in Australia's awesome victory.

For ten months on the bumpy road of international cricket it has travelled in the briefcase of Geoff Marsh, the coach, coming out only on special occasions such as a Test match, a pre-match meeting or, of course, a World Cup final.

In September last year, the Australia squad and its support staff met in Brisbane for a training camp to prepare for a gruelling campaign. The culmination of this programme of intensive training and preparation was this large piece of paper, headlined "The Road to Lord's". Written in the coach's neatest scribble were the goals of the team, which included winning every series played until the climax on June 20, 1999. Drawn as a pyramid, every tour and series was highlighted as a reminder of the job at hand.

By any standards the workload was massive, but by breaking it down into one step at a time, the journey looked less daunting. Considering that every one of the Test and one-day series has been won or at least drawn, it was understandable why the emotions were running so high on Sunday night.

Like a hurricane, Australia destroyed Pakistan by playing an awesome brand of ruthless one-day cricket. From the moment that Mark Waugh took that spectacular catch at second slip the well-prepared, disciplined, determined and extremely talented Australia team charged towards the top of their pyramid.

The fielding was brilliant, as was the bowling. Led by Shane Warne, who is unstoppable when he has a sparkle in his eyes, and Glenn McGrath, Pakistan had little hope of surviving a brutal onslaught. After a slow start to the competition, Australia must be applauded for their courageous fightback. Considering the competition and the nature of one-day cricket, it was an outstanding achievement by a team that now stands tall as the No 1 nation in both forms of the game.

With careful preparation and vision for the future, there is no reason why English cricket cannot also rekindle the fire. It took strong-willed characters such as Bob Simpson and Allan Border to pull Australia out of the doldrums more than a decade ago. It will be interesting to see if England's wise men can come up with a similar success formula.

From the printed edition of The Times, June 22, 1999

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