So far so good, but only if you are the top four teams, which luckily for me are the ones I predicted would be the likely semi-finalists. There is, of course, still time for the odd upset but they have largely lived up to their billing even if they might all say that there is, as ever, room for improvement.

If the usual suspects are prospering as teams, so it is with the individuals who have made a mark in these first three weeks of the tournament. The four men acknowledged (in any order) as the best batsmen in the world, Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steven Smith and Kane Williamson, have all been in the runs, and Virat might have had a few more but for the creaky bat handle that saw him walk off at Old Trafford unnecessarily.

Williamson’s match winning knock against the hapless South Africans was a tour de force of applied batsmanship on a pitch that was not the absolute belter that, for instance, Eoin Morgan took advantage of at Old Trafford against Afghanistan.

But for Williamson South Africa would have had only their second win in a contest, a genuinely close contest, that needed as much skill from the batsmen to assess the conditions as it required them to work out how best to get bat on ball, proving once again that one can have an absorbing match and be enthralled right until the end without having to see sixes raining into the stands all day.

His whole innings was a study of cool, calm accumulation until he just unleashed with the six that took the scores level and ensured victory off the next ball. It was such a contrast compared to Morgan’s record breaking hundred, during which the ball seemed to spend more time in amongst the crowd than anywhere else. If that’s what Morgan can do with a bad back then let’s see what he can do when fully fit!

One might say that it was “only” against Afghanistan but it was a mighty statement of intent, one that backs up Morgan’s and England’s so-called fearless approach to 50 over cricket.

England captain Eoin Morgan celebrates a century during the ICC Cricket World Cup match between England and Afghanistan at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on June 18, 2019. (AP)

Yes, it will not be as easy to be so free minded as the competition hots up and when the final knock out games come up but it was still a great way to set an example as captain. Not only that but I enjoyed the freedom with which he spoke about it afterwards, allowing himself to enjoy the moment and not just trot out the usual platitudes about the team.

In the process, he also took apart Rashid Khan. This World Cup has been a mixed bag for him but those figures of 0/110 will haunt him for a while. Let us not forget that his career, extraordinary as it has been, is still in its early stages – he is not yet 21 – but in this World Cup he has lacked the control one expects of one so talented.

To his credit he seems to have something of an unquenchable spirit, something you very much need as a spin bowler in any form of cricket, but this has been a testing time for him.

I hope and expect that he will bounce back stronger. For Smith this is all about both his rehabilitation in the Australian team and personal reassurance that he can perform to the same levels as before his fall from grace. He loves batting. We know that not just from the evidence we see in front of us almost every time he walks to the crease but from the stories now emanating from the Aussie camp about his alleged shadow batting in the shower.

If only I’d tried that all those years ago! Like Williamson he has the great ability to absorb pressure and do just what is needed to get his team across the line and both are players who will be so key later on.

That Australia have three of the top ten run scorers in this World Cup bodes well for them, especially as the other man making his peace with the game and his team, David Warner, had been below his absolute best but still productive until Thursday’s blitz against Bangladesh.

For Aaron Finch his runs will be doubly valuable in his role as both opening batman and captain. I have always believed that a captain will draw on personal success and good form to make better, quicker decisions as the leader. That his team has been winning matches without yet reaching its maximum potential is a warning to all others.

Continuing the theme, Joe Root is right up there too, reliability and consistency personified and the man that gives the England team substance around which the glamour boys can play their fearless cricket. He is another who just enjoys batting, still nurturing his boyish looks despite the whispy beard that adorns his face but playing his cricket with the authority of one much older.

Jason Roy, still in the top ten at the start of Thursday despite being missing and out of action, will be sorely missed but Johnny Bairstow is going well and the depth of batting in the England squad will mean that Eoin Morgan will not be unduly worried about the shuffling of the pack that comes with injuries.

Bangladesh might be struggling to make that top four in the next couple of weeks but they have a great player in Shakib-al Hasan. His hundred against the West Indies was yet another demonstration of the benefits of great talent allied to a cool head. But for his poise at the crease and management of the chase it could have been West Indies sitting just outside the semi-final spots rather than Bangladesh.

West Indies have fallen back since they blew away Pakistan. It has not helped that Andre Russell is apparently being held together with sticking plaster but they have also lacked a little shrewdness at vital times in both batting and bowling, something which their admirable captain, Jason Holder, needs to nip in the bud immediately.

India in the meantime are playing with great confidence. As mentioned before, it is a shame that Shikhar is no longer part of it and that does weaken the team, if only by a degree or two, yet Rohit Sharma is in flying form and set the tone beautifully against arch-rivals Pakistan.

He is playing as fluently as anyone but one feels that if he has an off day it could have a deleterious effect on that batting line up, which, apart from the very obvious exception in Virat Kohli, gives the impression that without a solid base at the top of the innings there is the odd hint of vulnerability in the middle. I would have liked to see what happened had they been able to play New Zealand but maybe that is a treat for a semi final?