Today Lord's will be heaving with a crowd enticed by the prospect of the first World Cup in Britain for 16 years, and the last perhaps for two decades as the competition does the rounds.
The competition has been marketed as a carnival, but the organisers could have done a lot worse than offer Don King the rights to promote the opening match: The Spat With The Bat, or Brawl With The Ball. Few could have failed to notice the edge between England and Sri Lanka in Adelaide during the winter when Muttiah Muralitharan was called for throwing, Arjuna Ranatunga led his team from the field and the England captain called him a disgrace, called another Sri Lankan an arsehole and then shoved a third.
Despite Alec Stewart's assertions to the contrary yesterday - "what happened has happened. . . in the past and forgotten . . . water under the bridge . . . " - such rancour does not disappear overnight. Peace At The Crease does not seem an option.
Neither England nor Sri Lanka, host nation and current champions respectively, are favourites for the tournament this time, with most money going on the South Africans, who are the most accomplished in this form of cricket since the last competition, or on the Australians. Neither England nor Sri Lanka can be discounted, however. England have been planning for this for 18 months, ever since they went to Sharjah with the radical idea of having a one-day specialist as captain and surprised themselves by winning a quadrangular tournament. But although the squad has gradually been whittled down to the satisfaction of most, the captaincy remains an unresolved issue.
It might still have been Adam Hollioake had not Mike Atherton resigned as captain at the end of the Caribbean Test series that winter. The subsequent appointment of Stewart saw the goalposts shifted in as much as he was guaranteed a place in both Test and one-day sides. However, Stewart's leadership has produced formulaic bowling changes and bland field placings, and his form at the top of the order has suffered such a worrying decline that even a slow 20-odd, scratched out on a helpful pitch at Southampton this week, is looked on as a minor triumph. He is doing a job too many.
It is Stewart's opening partnership with Nick Knight which has come under most scrutiny of late, for Knight, despite his exemplary one-day record has been struggling for form on slow, seaming pitches.
He is an eye player who likes hard pitches and will not find them just yet. Similarly Stewart needs pace and a good bounce to be at his most effective. The injury that ruled Atherton out of the squad may cost England heavily in a competition that promises to lean towards the orthodoxy of wickets in hand and gradual acceleration rather than the pyrotechnic beginnings that characterised the last one.
To this end Sri Lanka will use the more prosaic Roshan Mahanama as a partner for Sanath Jayasuriya, rather than another whizzbang.
Stewart was giving nothing away yesterday but it would be perverse if Knight were replaced by Nasser Hussain on the strength of some runs for Essex against an England side minus Darren Gough and Alan Mullally.
The rest of the side, after Graeme Hick, Graham Thorpe and Neil Fairbrother, promises to be seam-based, with Andrew Flintoff, Adam Hollioake and Mark Ealham lending all-round skills and depth to the batting, and Gough, Mullally and, it appears, Ian Austin completing the side.
No place, then, on a pitch which is evenly grassed but must have a lot of residual dampness, for a frontline spinner. The toss could prove decisive, just as it does in September finals. Whoever wins - and perhaps it is Stewart's turn - will surely bowl first.
