It was a terrific weekend in the Cricket World Cup. England were brilliant in brushing Bangladesh aside, then The Oval — the tournament’s beating heart — hosted the first meeting between two of the superpowers.

There has been some excellent cricket and some awful cricket, which is no less fun. With at least six games left, England already have more centuries than they have made in any World Cup before, while Sri Lanka have seen their numbers four to seven contribute a grand total of nine runs across two matches. That’s an average of 1.125.

Their game against Afghanistan, who are yet to live up to the hype, was as bad as England v Pakistan or Australia’s games against West Indies and India were good. This week, we must hope that the weather plays ball.

On Sunday, before a sea of blue in which Indian fans outnumbered Australians 40 to one (and it sounded like more), Virat Kohli’s men clinically brushed the Aussies aside in a game nowhere near as close as its 36-run margin sounds. Kohli turned statesman, too, encouraging his adoring followers to lay off Steve Smith.

Naturally, they obeyed, and the game and tournament could barely have felt more alive. The Oval, having hitherto been a Bangladeshi stronghold, transformed from Mirpur to Mumbai, with ticketless folk peering through the gates to get even the narrowest view of the action. Only six of the 11 venues have been used so far and on Sunday we will surely be treated to the best atmosphere yet when India meet Pakistan at Old Trafford. Before that India must play New Zealand, the only other unbeaten team, but the beneficiaries of a soft landing in the tournament.

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This is a long competition so 12 days and 14 matches in, we are still in the foothills. It started when European club football and domestic club rugby were playing their finals, but only ends on Wimbledon men’s finals day.

On the way, it competes against the Nations League, Women’s World Cup, as well as all the other usual summer sporting fare.

That leaves little space to breathe, especially when visibility is an issue. There was an interesting admission in Jonny Bairstow’s newspaper column on Saturday. He had not watched any of the action between England games because he does not have a Sky subscription. Australia had the same problem — with their Bristol hotel being Sky-less, they were given month-long Sky vouchers for their tablets by tournament organisers. The World Cup is not only hidden from your view, but its participants, too!

While Sky have offered a very reasonable introductory offer for the tournament, the troubles getting a look at things go further. There are websites, like the BBC and ESPNcricinfo, with the rights to rapidly get highlights clips online. This is a great resource. But when such clips — like Sheldon Cottrell or Ben Stokes’s wonderful catches, or Jofra Archer’s pace sending a bail for six — go viral on Twitter, they are hounded offline by the authorities.

Channel 4 have the free-to-air highlights rights, but England’s win over Bangladesh on Saturday was not shown until 12.20am on Sunday morning.

Regulations barely allow them to be earlier — they must be shown at least three hours after matches finish — but on Sunday night (well, given it was 1am, that’s Monday morning) a Gogglebox re-run got a go first. Channel 4 Sport last night tweeted “Psst... Have you heard?” about their early-hours highlights, the irony was uncontrollable.

The very broadcast deals that make the tournament possible also make it harder for the casual fan to find.

There is much debate about how we consume sport these days, but it feels imperative that the global and English cricket authorities ensure that the final — at the very least — of a tournament this vibrant is free to view. The opportunity at hand, hosting a World Cup they are favourites for, cannot pass English cricket by.