KEY POINTS:
A world Cup of near-empty stadiums has left cricket hearts in a similar condition. Cricket plus West Indies should have equalled joy, even if basketball has bounced into widespread Caribbean favour lately.
Instead of a tasty cricket delight, a juicy rump was put through the ICC sausage machine and emerged as a cheap snarler.
Save for Australia's brilliance, and Sri Lanka's skilled but doomed attempt at providing a challenger, there was little to cheer about.
With allegations of corruption holding credence, and having witnessed a competition so drab that it made the America's Cup look like rollerball, I believe it is fair to ask again whether we actually need a cricket World Cup at all.
It will, of course, survive. Money and grandeur will make sure of that. And to be fair, it still has significant potential. So let's check one possible solution to kick this off.
Apart from the obvious changes which need to be made - such as shortening the tournament - the ICC might consider introducing a final played over a series of matches between two sides.
A best of three games might be the ideal. In this, cricket could follow its own lead, provided by the tri-series played in Australia every year. More on that subject later.
A quick review of the World Cup is a venture into the blindingly obvious.
The ICC and the flock of officials who helped turn the World Cup into a bore and the final into a farce are, quite rightly, copping loads of criticism - although I think this obscures the cricketers' part in the tournament's demise.
But yes, whoever the culprits may be, the 2007 cricket World Cup could be the worst international sports tournament in history.
The rap sheet is substantial.
The murder of Bob Woolmer was a tragedy in itself and raised yet again the spectre of bookmakers and crooked players rigging matches; a bloated ICC with scant regard for the locals priced them out of the stadiums; a drawn out schedule bored the television audience to tears; and, finally, a final worthy of ridicule. This adds up to a scandalous disaster.
Heads should roll, although it is hard to see inspirational replacements on the horizon. Indeed, a worrying schism between the financially powerful Indian board and the ICC leadership continues to simmer. You wonder when it might boil over.
The first major question that needs to be asked of the ICC is how far are they prepared to go in trying to root out the crooks.
Match fixing swims through cricket like a crocodile in a murky pool, its eyes popping above the surface now and then, victims already digested down below. We can only hope that this croc never emerges from the water, cricket hanging from its jaws.
Even if in the unlikely event there was no match manipulation at the World Cup, there can be no doubt that other international cricket games are rigged, because people in the know say this is so.
And let's face it. There are so many documented cases of match fixing - it is a staggering number when you go through the files and the one major inquiry which has been conducted - that it would be naive to believe it has magically disappeared during an enforcement vacuum.
The problem is the sheer number of punters willing to wager on anything from who might open the innings to whether a hot batsman will suddenly lose form. Evil-minded men ready to take a myriad these bets aren't in short supply, either.
While it is difficult to fix results per se because bookies would need five or six players in their pockets to guarantee an outcome, tampering still adds up to rigged games.
A can of worms? A pit of vipers? Who knows what is there to be found, but the ICC needs to take this seriously, as do influential test players of strong character and good intention. Maybe a conference of test captains and a declaration of ideals might be a start. The next World Cup, to be held in four Asian countries, will dive headlong into the solution and problem.
The exuberance, if that is a strong enough word, for the game in those parts will provide an energy that was missing in the West Indies. Yet it means cricket will also take its most high-profile event into corruption central.
The World Cup format is easier to fix than the fixing. A shorter tournament. More cut-throat games. A respect for spectators. A reduced number of officials. Officials who know the rules. Fewer minnow teams. Contingency lighting.
Even fewer one-day games in general would help the premier event, although don't hold your breath on that score. And so, to the World Cup series concept.
One problem for the World Cup is that the one-day game works best in a series form, as happens in Australia every year. There is too much emphasis on an overly elaborate way of finding the World Cup finalists, and not enough celebration of the final itself.
As with the American baseball and basketball finals, sports series take on a life of their own as new storylines evolve. They promote rivalry and offer the chance for redemption.
There is an obvious sticking point: that the World Cup might end with a series minus the hosts. It is a concept worth considering, though.
Maybe the real answer to the saving of cricket's World Cup lies with the teams themselves.
Australia, magnificent to the last, were out on their own in this tournament, and the ICC can't be blamed for that.
England, India, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand - they were, by and large, insipid. The home team were out of their depth.
The game also has a dearth of great players.
No matter what the ICC does in terms of formats, their World Cup - and any world cup - relies on the teams and stars providing gripping, thrilling contests. The rest of the cricket world must match Australia's excellence.
Even the one-day concept itself has been derided in the World Cup aftermath. To that I would say remember the packed houses, the vibrant atmosphere, at grounds around Australia over the years. England's upset tri-series win was hardly a bore.
The one-day concept needs to be nurtured because the alternative is outlandish. Heaven help us should the one-dimensional slogfest called Twenty20 take centre stage, as some - in the post-World Cup gloom - have suggested could take place.
If that day ever arrives then cricket will no longer be a good bet, and that is all it will be good for.
