The World Cup is up and running and proving yet again that all you can expect is the unexpected, especially when watching Pakistan!

India had to wait longer than most to get into the action. Then they and South Africa found themselves battling it out on a pitch that was (unexpectedly) lively and responsive, compared to the sort of pitches we have seen at the Ageas Bowl over the last few years.

For both seam bowlers and spinners to find they had something to work with must have been a real bonus, and (unexpectedly again) despite the dry weather recently, the pitches have not been just the flat tracks that render bowlers mere cannon fodder, boost batsmen’s averages and produce massive run fests.

It makes it more interesting when sides have to think more. When captains and players are not sure half way through the first innings of a game what a good score is, then captaincy itself becomes so much more relevant with all the gambles one has to take for the wickets that might win you a game, as opposed to merely dividing 50 overs between your available bowlers.

Such was the case in India’s match. Kohli’s early, speedy decision to recognise the conditions and add himself in at third slip brought him the wicket of one of the key men, Quinton de Kock. Jasprit Bumrah, as mentioned here last week for his death bowling, did the damage at the start, bowling beautifully and very sharply, proving what batsmen around the world already knew that he is one of the very best new ball bowlers too.

Spinners introduced shrewdly brought more wickets. For his opposite number, the only way to get South Africa’s first points on the board was or would have been to bowl India out. The way Rohit Sharma controlled the chase, took the pressure off, and as ever, when one man makes a hundred in a chase of that nature, normally that is the job done.

For England, to have two men make hundreds in a much longer, tougher chase and still lose against Pakistan was in marked contrast.

That match rather backed up Kohli’s pre-tournament remarks to be wary about the false expectation of big totals, in that England were not quite so dominant at the very top of the order as they had been in the bilateral series before the World Cup and so failed to reach a target they might have cracked before and which would have been a World Cup record chase.

Such things do not come easily. The other aspect highlighted in that game was the fielding. Standards being what they are across the world, we expect the best at all times.

We are inured to brilliant catches, diving stops and supreme athleticism, all things associated with one-day Internationals and the IPL. When what looks like a regulation chance goes down, nowadays it seems to come as a much bigger shock than it ever did previously.

The biggest failing was Jason Roy’s drop off Mohammed Hafeez, who made the most of the reprieve. There was, I think, a slight issue with the sun, but even in England we have seen the sun before.

There are ways of making sure it does not stop one completing the catch, and Roy is normally closer to infallible rather than incapable in the field. It’s what a World Cup can do to you!

Technically Roy left his hands just a fraction low, maybe a very small, but ultimately significant error. From that position there is no chance of even snaffling the rebound.

Out it goes and that is that. A couple of days later and David Miller drops an absolute sitter off Rohit Sharma using what we normally call the Australian method with hands reversed above the head and in front of the eyes. One can only put it down to the pressure of the situation and his only consolation is that at that stage it was not going to change the game one way or the other.

It was the same sort of catch but a different result for Chris Morris ten minutes later.

Going back to England, the fact that they had set such high standards in the field in their opening match against South Africa further emphasised the failings in the Pakistan match.

The Stokes catch at The Oval was out of this world but the analysts claimed that throughout the 50 overs against South Africa, England had saved about 35 runs. Like an economic forecast or a voter’s poll, that number had been revised down from an even more impressive 50-plus and on the day the margin of victory was way beyond even that.

Against Pakistan the drops and misfields made the difference between winning and losing, not catastrophic at the start of a tournament but potentially much more crucial later on.

Whereas batting and bowling can throw up outstanding individual accomplishments and Man of the Match awards normally reflect one or the other, the one thing that the best teams will normally control with estimable consistency is the fielding. When that fails in an era when runs seem to come so easily to so many, it is enough to change games.

Marks have been made already but there is still a long, long way to go. The various favourites are still just that but a big statement was made by the West Indies. We knew from their form against England in the Caribbean that they are a force in one-day cricket. The great man, Chris Gayle, might not be looking at his most agile in the field but he can stand and deliver with a bat in hand.

However, it was the aggression in the bowling on an (unexpectedly) lively Trent Bridge pitch that set the tone for the most impressive win against Pakistan.

In sticking Australia in, and the 10.30 am start times, I am sure help a decision like that with that little extra freshness in conditions, Jason Holder was sticking to his guns in backing his bowlers to put the Aussies under pressure and, to twist the analogy, big guns they are too! Oshane Thomas, Sheldon Cottrell and Andre Russell are names that are already making headlines and West Indies are now strong top four contenders.