``Nine nations, one chance. Eight days of sensational cricket. Thrills and hardluck stories.''

Thus the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Jagmohan Dalmiya described the Wills International Cup, the first ever knock out world tournament that is now over. Finally, South Africa is the champions and 3,931 runs with four centuries off 117 wickets in eight matches of this nine-day event.

But were the matches of what most looked upon as the ``mini world cup'' reflection of real cricketing excitement and uncertainty? Except, the pre- quarter final between New Zealand and Zimbabwe, the answer is ``no''. Not any star player, rather an average standard Harris turned the impossible into possible. And the result was decided in the very last ball.

Partial reflection of real excitement was observed in another match where also the low ranking New Zealand played against the world champions Sri Lanka in the quarter final. The Kiwi bowlers had dramatically returned three top order batsmen - Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu and Aravinda de Silva in only five runs. But the match finally didn't see the upset as Ranatunga and Co were the winners chasing the Kiwis paltry total.

Star cricketers were more frustrating than the matches they played. Except for little genius Sachin Tendulkar, no other star could spark and enthral the jam-packed Bangabandhu National Stadium from October 24 to November 1. Brian Lara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shahid Afridi, Mohammed Azharuddin, Aravinda de Silva, Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan were among them.

Brian Lara, Sourav Ganguly or Wasim Akram could show a little, but Indian skipper Azharuddin was the biggest flop. He could play only seven balls in two matches and scored one. Mentionable, in both the matches he was lbw in same way. Mark Waugh was the highest scorer for Australia against India in the quarter final, but he was the man who finally threw his wicket, that was the key reason for Aussies ouster from the tournament.

When the stars flopped, unpredictably, two players from the two finalists became the heroes of the Wills Cup. They are Philo Wallace of West Indies and Jacques Kallis of South Africa. There was no official man of the tournament. Had it been, obviously the adjudicators would select one of the two new heroes. While Kallis was dangerous with both ball and willow, Wallace proved him as the most hard-hitting batsman.

Many spectator think that the 103 off 102 balls with five sixers and 11 boundaries of Wallace against the Proteas in the final was the best innings in the tournament. But many other say, no. They preferred Sachin's 141.

There were two other tons in the mega spectacle of the cricket. One was made by Zimbabwean skipper Alistair Campbell (100) and another by Jacques Kallis of South Africa (113). But Campbell and Wallace were unlucky that their centuries could not bring the victory.

If the question of team performance comes, obviously South Africa is the best. Not only for that they were the final winners, but also for their all- round performance - in bowling, fielding and obviously batting on the paradise of batsmen - by all the players. They were also a little lucky as weather helped them a little in the semi-final against Sri Lanka.

Team performance of West Indies also showed the hint that they are returning to their old golden days that Brian Lara had said on their arrival in Dhaka to take part the cricket carnival.

Obviously the local crowd had support to the three sub-continent teams - either India or Pakistan or Sri Lanka as Bangladesh having only one-day status was not a participant. But finally they were frustrated by all the three teams. Whether Arjuna Ranatunga admits or not, his decision to chase in the semi-final on that cloudy and rain-interrupted match was enough to be eliminated from the tournament. His batsmen also failed as the Pakistanis without Saeed Anwar and Injam Ul Haq. But what's about India? Their performance with full strength was real disaster.

Despite being frustrated by the sub-continent teams, the spectators were happy to watch good battle between willow and leather. Whether the matches are exciting or not, they were happier to see all the test-playing teams on the same ground altogether. It was their greatest satisfaction as they also proved that are the real lovers of cricket.