Only One Left Now

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Australia celebrate yet another win.

'Come on lady,' said the man dressed in a strange bird outfit. 'Let's see what you got!'

The Australian woman looked at the gyrating young man from the steel band with understandable surprise, as he thrust his pelvis towards hers while her bemused husband looked on. She seemed nervous, but at the same time she clearly didn't want to turn her back on such overwhelming hospitality.

All around bands were playing traditional West Indian music as the crowds streamed into the ground from all corners of the island, filled with hope and expectation. The Aussie lady did her bit in order to be polite before gratefully moving on. The start of the match was close and the stakes were high.

Almost an hour after the start there was still a long line of people filing into the ground, ignorant of the fact that at that stage they might as well not have bothered. South Africa were five wickets down and already the match was a foregone conclusion.

It was a big blow to my hopes of an upset, hopes that have risen higher and higher with every Aussie that I've met in St Lucia in the last few days. To a man, they have contained the belief that a hat-trick of World Cups is a mere formality and they've basically come along as reveling witnesses.

Watching the first semi-final in a series of bars (just picking up the vibe, you know. I wasn't having a jolly or anything), I must have heard an Aussie utter the phrase 'I don't mind us facing Sri Lanka in the final' between five and ten times.

After listening to the presumptuousness among the sea of Aussies that have taken control of St Lucia, I felt there would be nothing greater than to witness the disappointment of a loss to South Africa. I don't hate Aussies, you see, it's just the arrogance that seems to run through their veins that gets on my nerves.

I'm also a believer that no side should dominate any sport so completely, and I'm sure many fans out there would agree that a third consecutive World Cup win for Australia is the last thing that they'd like to see. We all want our team to do well, but second to that is a desire to see some sort of competition given that that's what sport is meant to be about.

Unfortunately South Africa failed to grant me the snigger that would have accompanied a shock victory, and now there's just one side who can.

It's been a long journey filled with many great moments and I feel privileged to have seen a wonderful part of the world. But if the end result is the same as that of the last two tournaments, then there's no doubt that it will have been a big disappointment on the cricketing side of it all.