Financially, of course, it will be another bonanza for the game, and this time it is England, the hosts, who will reap some 50 per cent of the profits. Since the estimated television audience is two billion, not to mention the 500,000 spectators who will watch games on 21 grounds, the hope is that a competition involving the nine Test countries plus Bangladesh, Kenya and Scotland will promote the sport both nationally and internationally.

The organisers made only one misjudgment yesterday in presenting their plans, accompanied by the full match schedule which gives every county ground a game. They commandeered the Long Room, filled it with cameras and chairs and covered the windows with what looked like blankets so that some 160 could see a video screen.

They thereby blotted out the view to the ground which gives perspective to the loveliest room in cricket and since most of the historic pictures were hidden from view too the whole scene was as incongruous as a hippo in a swimming pool. Far better to have used the neighbouring Banqueting Suite, which is purpose built.

In other respects this was an auspicious launch to the seventh World Cup and the first to return to England, where the tournament was conceived and successfully pioneered, since 1983, when India upset the West Indies in the final.

The form of international cricket is so volatile that it is anyone's guess at this stage who will emerge from the two groups of six who will play each other in the first round. Three teams from each group will then go through to a so-called ``Super Six'' stage and the points gained from matches in the first round -two for a win, one for an abandonment - will count, along with those gained in the Super Six matches, to decide the semi-finalists at Old Trafford and Edgbaston in mid-June.

England will be based before the tournament at Canterbury, where they hope for good net facilities and reliable weather. Each of the 12 nations will have three warm-up matches and there are actual tournament matches in all 18 counties, plus one each in Holland, Ireland and Scotland.

A clever wordplay on the traditional ``it's just not cricket'' has given the next World Cup its theme, namely ``it's not just cricket''. Terry Blake, the tournament director, outlined the England Cricket Board's plans to capitalise on what he called ``a festival of cricket which will reach out to the hearts and minds of every child in the UK''. They include development roadshows, coaching clinics from the players on county grounds, educational programmes in schools, a national quiz in clubs and other projects with local authorities.

But it is not just cricket for another reason: it is business. Two of eight sponsors, to be known as ``global partners'', are in the bag already, Vodaphone and NatWest. Both companies have committed a further £2 million to the World Cup on top of all they already give to have their names associated with the English game. The other six are being chased by an agency specialising in the American market, one which will be even more aware of cricket by 1999 given the plans to build a ground at Disneyland in Florida.

Television deals are still to be finalised but Sky and the BBC will share the domestic coverage and with international rights to follow, the ECB's marketing experts are hoping to double the £12 million which the India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka combination made from this source alone last time. Who sees what within the UK, however, is a sensitive matter.

Final arrangements have not been agreed between the ECB, BBC and Sky and there would be an outcry if the final were not to be available throughout on terrestrial television. Blake hinted yesterday that it would be -indeed it would be a surprise if it were not to be televised live by both the BBC and Sky - but he was equivocal when asked whether all England's games will necessarily be covered by the BBC, suggesting that some will be Sky's preserve, accompanied by BBC highlights.

The Board will have to watch, too, how many of the 30,000 seats will be available to the public for the final at Lord's on June 20, a Sunday. Blake estimated that some 10,000 would be kept for public sale.