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If we say for the moment that the World Cup is simmering, that Manchester United will dominate sports talk for a day or two more and that not until the Super Six stage of the cricket carnival - as it has oddly been tagged - will the tournament begin to boil, it is easy enough to see why.

No thrillers. No epic nail-biting finishes - bar that excellent India-Zimbabwe game - which glue us to the television screen demanding immediate attention, and then later, pub post-mortems. It is like Wimbledon before one of those early evening five-setters; the catalyst which raises the blood pressure.

There is a reason for this, too. The balance between bat and ball. Not a murmur yet from Lara, De Silva, Jayasuriya or Tendulkar Tendulkar sadly for the wrong reasons, at least until today. Barely a whisper from Anwar or Astle, Mark Waugh or Gilchrist. Indeed, the only really relevant roars from the top of the order came on Saturday at the Oval when Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten enjoyed a dry pitch and some watery English bowling.

And from the south coast a week or so ago when Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid got going on a belting pitch at Hove. The contrast between this World Cup and the ripper on the sub-continent three and a bit years back is staggering - like biriani and bacon-and-eggs, a mile apart and reflecting changes of emphasis in the world game.

You could argue this is one-day cricket for the connoisseur, though I would say it was one-day cricket for the seam bowler, but it is absolutely not one-day cricket for the kids. Don't expect 10-year-olds clamouring to pitch stumps in the parks and impersonate Allan Donald. At least not yet. Not until the matches have a 'do-or-die' element; not until the world's greatest cricketers are down to the wire. Then the juices might run and the talk could take off.

Before the tournament began Sachin Tendulkar pointed out that the last World Cup was won in the first 15 overs and that this one may be won in the last 15. Only this weekend Arjuna Ranatunga, the general who instituted the cavalry charge against the new ball, said that his first few batsmen, the stars of the first 15 last time, needed to show more discipline. Tendulkar may be right, though plenty of games are being and will be won in the first 15 overs - by bowlers. The last 15 will continue to provide a stage for Lance Klusener, Chris Cairns, Wasim Akram and other natural strikers who are profiting from a less spiteful older white ball, drying pitches and the smaller English grounds. This time Ranatunga may have left his thinking until too late. Jayasuriya with discipline is like Zorro without his sword.

Stephen Fleming said that the World Cup was a ``breath of fresh air'' for the game because bowlers were having their chance. This is fine when applied to an English audience who are steeped in this style of limited overs. But bowlers don't sell the short form of the game, they facilitate it. Rightly or wrongly batsmen and tense finishes pack cricket grounds and neither are likely to be prolific in England during May.

Nonetheless, Fleming and his team should be celebrated for their efficient and entertaining cricket. New Zealand are emerging amongst the favourites with South Africa, of course, and the mercurial Pakistanis, whose street-fighting qualities have already got them through some awful starts. There is nothing like watching Pakistan play. It's a sort of roller-coaster ride of emotions on a horrifically steep gradient.

When they won the World Cup in 1992, Imran Khan, who led them so majestically, encouraged the young Wasim to attack at any cost. Wasim had a chronic no-ball problem to go with numerous wides which came from his inconsistent control of dramatic amounts of swing. Imran understood that Wasim was an irresistible match-winner so he let him loose, preferring his wicket-taking potential to attempts at containment.

South Africa may be doing this with Jacques Kallis, who is swinging the ball prodigiously, while Shaun Pollock, who is 20 per cent below par, ties up an end. This tactic continues when Donald and Steve Elworthy take over, which is one reason why South Africa take so many wickets in one-day cricket.

Wasim is leading Pakistan brilliantly. It is a lovely job mind you, with bowlers like theirs and Shoaib Akhtar is the Wasim of '92, with a little better control perhaps, more pace when he chooses but considerably less swing. Wasim is the one Pakistan captain of the last five years who has been able to mould these gifted, often disparate men into a team. What a delectable thought, Pakistan and South Africa in a head-to-head. Roll on the Super Sixes.