Happy Days Are Here Again

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The home fans will add plenty.

By Dave Tickner

I'm instinctively a wary man. And, I suppose, a pessimistic one. Approaching things with any sort of confidence just sets you up for disappointment that you should really have been better prepared for.

But just occasionally, I allow a baffling and unfathomable optimism to take over, somehow bypassing the powerful hate, misery and weary resignation sensors of my brain.

Last time this happened was the Ashes, when I was dangerously bullish about England's chances, and covering such a distressing series through the night for six long weeks left me at a depressingly-predictable low ebb. Subsisting on a diet of Red Bull and Pro Plus, I began to unravel alarmingly to the concern/disdain/indifference of colleagues.

I think fears for my sanity reached a head during the third day of the fourth Test, when the morning crew arrived to find me having a heated discussion with my keyboard. The fact I'd given every key on the keyboard a name and a back-story probably didn't help. Or my belief that, after a hard day at work, they liked nothing more than chilling out at the Space Bar.

And then I started giggling at the very concept of staplers.

Clearly, I was losing my mind.

However, there are a few reasons why I'm confident that won't happen this time around.

First, the games in the Caribbean start at a very civilised hour for the UK viewer. Unlike in Australia, a country so anti-English they have quite deliberately and stubbornly placed themselves in the world's most awkward time zone. And second, England can't lose 5-0.

Thirdly, and perhaps most crucially, one-day cricket will just quite simply never matter as much to me as Test cricket.

I enjoy the shorter form of the game, and as an Englishman I really want Vaughan and the boys to do the business, but there's no way any England victory in the Caribbean over the next two months will have the effect of Edgbaston 2005. There will be nothing to touch Headingley 2001, let alone 1981.

And no defeat, however astonishing, unlikely or contrived will leave me as angry, bewildered and drained as the Adelaide Test last year. Even if it's against Canada.

And this is not just borne out of the fact England have generally been better at Test cricket than 50-over cricket in recent years. I fell in love with Test cricket in the early 90s, and for the first 10 years England were pretty uniformly terrible.

The ebb and flow of a five-day Test is just infinitely more powerful and compelling than the quick thrill of a one-day game.

But I'm again heading into the tournament with confidence and optimism that may border on delusional, and can surely only end in bitter tears and recrimination.

This time it's not for England's chances - the boys in blue will do brilliantly just to reach the last four - but rather for the tournament as a whole.

Yes, there are too many games and yes, there are too many makeweight teams. But the tournament is undoubtedly a fair one; no day/night games, reserve days for every match - which should minimise Duckworth and Lewis' involvement and thus boost South Africa's chances no end - and a Super Eight stage that should pitch the world's best eight teams into battle on an even footing.

There should be none of the political machinations that helped make South Africa 2003 such a mess, and the early signs suggest the hosts aren't going to make a pig's ear of things as South Africa and England have done in the two previous tournaments.

And the Caribbean crowds should ensure some enjoyment can be taken from even the dullest mismatch, although there were troubling and early signs of a Mexican Wave at Sabina Park on Tuesday.

And while the minnows should be pretty summarily dealt with, there is a genuine feeling that any of eight teams can win what is undoubtedly the most open World Cup in years, and potentially the best.