KEY POINTS:
Can it possibly be true? The Cricket World Cup has finally been buried, although some of us expect it to shove a bloodied hand back through the earth at any time, like the ending to a scary Stephen King movie.
That's actually what happened yesterday, with confusion surrounding the final stages of Australia's victory in Barbados.
For those who missed it, Australia beat one of the other teams, although this happens so often that the name of their opponents escapes me. It was a team in blue with yellow trim, I think.
Having hugged each other in triumph, the Australians (and the team in blue) played three more overs in the dark.
Kids around the world will relate to this great summer tradition of sneaking in a few extra overs of enjoyment in the gloom as mum or dad yells out that it's dinner time. Until now, though, it was not a noted part of the senior game, especially at World Cup final level.
What a romantic end then, although the ICC can thank their lucky stars that England weren't in the final, because by the time the game finished at least five of their players would have popped out for a few drinks. One might even have been swimming in a different sort of drink.
The 2007 Cricket World Cup is the tournament that refused to die, which is rather ironic given the earlier circumstances. Turn the telly on this morning and you might find it is actually still going on.
For now, though, I'll stick with the rumour that an event 10 years in the planning which seemed to last almost as long, and then continued into the dark, has ended.
How do we judge this remarkable tournament, which lasted a frustratingly brief 3022 days.
It was a triumph for the spectators. How do we know this? Because West Indian fast bowling great-turned-commentator Michael Holding told us that everyone who came to the tournament was happy. Coming from a man who never seems happy, this is quite an endorsement.
I'd hate to argue with Michael, and he was the man on the spot. But it has to be noted here that the crowd didn't appear entirely happy immediately after the final when they booed the ICC bigwigs. This may have had something to do with the ticket prices.
The World Cup was an eye-opener in so many ways. Who, for instance, knew that it rained in the West Indies at this time of year.
And before the cup began I, for one, had no idea what a pedalo was. If push had come to shove, I might have picked it as a Spanish hat or maybe even a Mexican chilli.
Yet thanks to the English cricket hero Freddie Flintoff, we all now know that a pedalo is a pedal-powered water transporter that is not to be trusted.
The next time you head off on a package deal to a resort with pedalo rides thrown in, see if you can swap this freebie for a discount.
Those things can wreck a great holiday, as the English team found out.
Put it this way. If a mentally tough world class athlete with lovely balance and a superb eye can't ride one, then what chance have you got?
Where else did this tournament succeed? First and foremost, you can't go past the remarkable statistic that on 3021 days, there weren't any murders.
The ICC has been quite modest on this score because whatever the World Cup naysayers might claim after Bob Woolmer's death, it has to be acknowledged that almost all of the people who were there at the start of the tournament were there at the end.
Nothing is perfect, though, so what about a few improvements?
This World Cup proved that Ireland and Bangladesh are nuisances who need to be told, once and for all, that they are not to mess with cricket's finances and our pleasure by helping eliminate India and Pakistan.
It was actually rather romantic at the time when a bunch of cricket hobbyists and a couple of schoolkids from Chittagong knocked over the superstars, but it was quickly pointed out by the experts that this had actually stuffed things up. Ireland and Bangladesh need to know that while they are there to learn, they are risking their future involvement by learning too much.
Without wanting to tell the ICC its business, and clearly it knows how to run a smashing tournament, it might hold a pre-World Cup elimination match between Ireland and Bangladesh in future.
The loser would be eliminated (self-explanatory, really), and let's see, the winner could also be eliminated.
So, with the odd minor adjustment such as reducing the murder rate, making sure the bunnies know their place and getting a spot of lighting organised for the final, the World Cup is in great heart.
To steal Stephen Fleming's immortal words after the Black Caps were hammered by Australia, the 2007 World Cup was just "a little bit off".
High
The Australian cricketers. They are a sporting wonder - and when it came to the World Cup crunch they were in a class of their own. It's easy to marvel at their brilliance under pressure, even if they are our major sporting rivals.
Low
A poor weekend for New Zealand's Super 14 teams. None of the title contenders - the Crusaders, Blues and Chiefs - were in encouraging form. And Jason Eaton's season-ending injury has not helped. Is it time for the World Cup shakes?
