It should have been a blockbuster which packed in the crowds and attracted rave reviews. But, for many, the 2007 World Cup was too long, too expensive, too dull and eventually even the International Cricket Council (ICC) was forced to admit that this particular marathon had left everybody exhausted.

“We listen to criticism, and there has been a lot of it from people saying it’s been too long — so we’ll look to make it shorter,” said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.

“We’ll seek to reduce this 47-day World Cup by seven or 10 days, and hopefully we’ll get it down to somewhere between five and six weeks next time.”

Whether or not the TV moguls will be happy with that arrangement remains to be seen, especially as the 2011 edition is to be staged in the subcontinent — the financial engine of the international game.

The ninth World Cup, the first to be held in the Caribbean, started welcoming the 16 teams in the last week of February; two months on, Australia and Sri Lanka were battling to decide the best.

What will the 2007 tournament be remembered for?

Tragically, it will be forever associated with Room 374 on the 12th floor of the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found unconscious there the morning after the 1992 champions had been humiliated by Ireland and later declared dead.

The defeat sent Pakistan spinning out of the World Cup. Cricket — once a metaphor for all things decent in sport — was forced into a serious bout of introspection amidst whispers of the involvement of match-fixing mafias.

The search for Woolmer’s killers is still on, even as different theories made the rounds.

Mark Shields, the man leading the hunt and who briefly became probably the most photographed policeman in the world, hit out at “wild” rumours, saying they were “causing a lot of distress” to Woolmer’s family. “The priority is to see the truth,” said Shields.

Woolmer’s body was allowed to be flown to his family in Cape Town almost six weeks after his death.

In the seven-week tournament, sparsely-attended games were a constant bewildering sight as locals, priced out of the market, voted with their feet.

The early exit of Pakistan and India, traditional magnets for battalions of fans, only added to the eerie quiet.Things improved when organisers dropped their restrictions on musical instruments being brought into the grounds and introduced a right to re-entry.

Fans, however, argued that the measures were too little, too late.

England’s Barmy Army hit out at the costs of travel and accommodation, with many Caribbean hotels tripling rates. English fans paid £5,000 pounds for a 10-day stay. “It’s pretty expensive for people and that has been prohibitive to the younger fans,” said Barmy Army spokesman Paul Burham.

Steve Laffey, of Australia’s fanatics supporters’ group, said fans were disappointed with the atmosphere at matches.

“We expected it to be a lot more lively, Calypso cricket, the atmosphere usually associated with the sport in the Caribbean,” he said.

It wasn’t all gloom in the sunshine and there were some magical moments. Inzamam-ul Haq and Brian Lara’s tearful farewells will live long in the memory, as will evergreen talents like Glenn McGrath, Muttiah Muralidharan and Sanath Jayasuriya.

With his bleached-blond hair and eyebrow ring, Lasith Malinga was a revelation with his slingy, round-arm action and his historic four wickets in four balls, which almost added another dent to South Africa’s brittle confidence. (AFP)