And where there's America, can sport be far behind? Did you say sport? Those who have cottoned on to the hoopla of hoopsters, als known as the NBA, will recognise it for what it is - show biz. As opposed to the slow biz of cricket.

Well, maybe that's the secret the Yanks have been keeping from us all these years. To combine sport and show biz and really, are they all that different? Aren't sportsmen after all performers on a stage as much as actors or singers? The big difference of course is that there is nothing scripted about sport (although Pakistan cricket fans, practising tomato and egg hurling, may beg to differ!) Baseball is considered the national sport of America and to get a taste of Americana a visit to a baseball game is a must for a visitor to the US. I must point out that there is also a World Series of baseball that involves teams from the US and Canada. That should tell you enough about the American worldview. The Japanese, Taiwanese and even the Cubans play the game, but that hardly makes it international. Actually, the poor Yanks must really be embarrassed about the fact that if the game went global they'd probably lose to the Cubans, as they have done in the Olympics.

There was this game between the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers in the Seattle Kingdome. This is a giant indoor stadium which seats 75,000 and this just happened to be the penultimate game to be played in the Kingdome which has been around for 22 years. From next month the Mariners move across the road to a new hi-tech stadium.

Now baseball is a game for the entire family. One lost count of the number of young mothers with infants in their arms.

As with the rest of American society, the consumer (in this case, the spectator) is king and everything is catered around his needs, at a price of course.

For someone more attuned to being crammed into cricket stadia, it was a joy to be able to stretch out on comfortable seats with easy exits and plenty of space between the aisles to walk up and down. The game itself was pretty exciting with the Mariners winning 5-4. And the crowd was kept in good humour throughout the three hours of play.

Each team has its own mascot, in this case someone dressed up as a giant moose. That keeps the kids happy. And every now and then the PA system would blare out a rock song appropriate to the action on the field. The Rolling Stones' song 'This Could be the Last Time' was apt indeed since the next day would be the last game in this giant concrete bowl.

Baseball is not a patch on cricket when it comes to subtlety and nuances. In baseball, a swing of the bat is all you need. No strokes here; no cover drives, hooks, glances...Just hit it as hard as you can, hopefully clear out of the stadium and that counts as a home run or 'homer', the equivalent of a sixer in cricket.

No doubt all the razzmatazz one witnessed at a baseball game would have seemed out of place at Lord's. The World Cup final last month was an occasion rather than a spectacle. The way the Pakistanis folded up was a big disappointment to their fans and the neutral spectators as well. But then a World Cup final at Lord's--and this was the fourth--is always special.

There is so much to soak up in and around the playing arena. The museum, the library, even the Lord's shop...Sometimes the cricket can seem almost incidental. And certainly that was the case in this most one-sided of all finals. Baseball may be an altogether different ball game. But then maybe cricket has something to learn from its brash, young American cousin.