Cricket administrators entrusted with reinvigorating the 50-over format will be beaming after a World Cup weekend of contrast and unpredictability.

The expected run-fest at Eden Park became a batsman’s nightmare, AB de Villiers’ personal plundering reaped more runs than the entire West Indies team and a low-200’s score in Brisbane went down to the last over.

It was anything but bland and formulaic.

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One-day cricket regulations have had more tweaks than Shane Warne but the return of two new balls has been a masterstroke.

The only thing swinging more than Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc’s deliveries in Auckland was the pavilion gate due to its steady stream of humbled batsmen.

A game which was expected to see 300 runs as a sub-par innings total, only just reached that number in combined aggregate, as 19 wickets fell in a low-scoring thriller.

It was an obvious day of triumph for the return of the use of a new ball from each end.

Batting caution in the early overs has been heightened in all 50-over matches, albeit in generally more subtle circumstances than on Saturday, but it’s a move which has been much needed to restore competitive balance.

And to think, an opener with a near-busted arm was still able to score 50 from 24 balls in the same game.

One-day cricket’s other relatively recent change, the restrictions which allow no more than four fieldsman in the outfield, seemed to have its glory moment at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

AB de Villiers’ wizardry

The late-innings wizardry of South African skipper de Villiers, on the surface, could be seen to be a direct result of the foreboding of a captain to have more boundary protection.

This is where the law makers need to keep their congratulations in check because, to be frank, the rules had little to do with it.

AB de Villiers smashes the West Indies attack at the SCG. Photo: Getty

De Villiers is a batting genius and an extra man in the deep would not have stopped the show, and hence, to use it as carte blanche justification of the regulations would be misleading.

Plenty of games have been enhanced by the four-man out restrictions but there have also been plenty in evidence of its drawbacks.

Sunday’s game in Wellington was an example where the lack of outfield protection, albeit at the hands of another genius by the name of Kumar Sangakarra, made a 300-run chase a doddle.

If you equate boundaries to entertainment then the four-man out rule works. If you prefer your plundering borne of brilliance an extra man in the deep is unlikely to prevent it.

Two new balls seemed to have restored competitive balance only for the amended fielding restrictions to take it away. Cricket’s most entertaining feature is still the contest between bat and ball and the laws should ensure it is there for all of the game and not just parts of it.

The past week of the World Cup has also reminded us of just how good 50-over cricket can be when it means something.

Close finishes between Ireland and United Arab Emirates, along with Afghanistan and Scotland, were as intoxicating as white-ball cricket can get.

Even a last over finish between struggling Test nations, as was the case with Pakistan’s victory over Zimbabwe, reminded us that context is king in the much-maligned world of white-ball cricket.

May the joy of 50-over cricket with meaning continue.

-ABC