Chris Rattue: Ashes underline the joy of a great series

World Cups are so over-rated.

Far from being enchanting experiences, World Cups are usually the very opposite where rancour and negative tactics eventually rule.

Another fabulous Ashes cricket series is a reminder that over-hyped World Cups are not where the best of sport is at.

The current Ashes series is unfolding brilliantly, a feat beyond most world tournaments.

These Ashes have more twists and turns than an over from Warnie. The changing fortunes, on-going storylines, rivalries, tactical and selection punches and counter-punches - this is fascinating meat and drink compared with the sugary highs and lows of World Cups. The Mitchell Johnson redemption story from these Ashes is an example of why long series, rather than a series of one-off encounters, are the best of sports-watching deals.

England had his number, and then he had theirs. And at the end of a long Ashes series there can be no doubting the merits of whoever claims the urn.

The heyday of the America's Cup plus the enduring State of Origin also help prove that series rule.

America certainly knows this and the world watches on as the baseball and basketball finals develop. The Super Bowl gets a lot of attention, but you'll see more bad ones than good.

World Cups only prove who was best on a given day and are subject to many variables, yet the weight of importance affects players and coaches, and ends up proving nothing at all. That a national sense of self worth might, apparently, rely on events so random isn't anything to celebrate either.

Far too much is read into the importance of World Cups.

What matters, or should matter, is whether sport provides riveting and fabulous action. In a lot of cases, World Cups don't.

Soccer's ruling body Fifa plays the Good Samaritan, unconvincingly, but what about playing good soccer? And on the vuvuzela factor alone, this year's supposedly humanitarian World Cup in South Africa failed to my mind because the experience wasn't enjoyable.

The world's worst World Cup is in cricket, because one-day cricket is often a lottery, and not real cricket anyway. Cricket's last World Cup was the worst of the lot.

As for the very best of cricket - no one could go past the 2005 Ashes series.

The best World Cups I've witnessed include the first rugby tournament in New Zealand, in 1987, when the outcome didn't carry so much importance and there was a relatively relaxed atmosphere.

This venture into the unknown brought the rugby nations together (minus South Africa) in an innocent sort of way. The drama around and action during the 1995 tournament in South Africa will also live long in the memory.

But those tournaments never came close to matching the enjoyment of and memories left by the 1971 British Lions series nor the All Blacks' 1976 battles in South Africa, or even a few Lions ventures to South Africa.

The more importance that is placed on sporting World Cups, the worse they seem to get. The 2007 rugby tournament was mainly kick-dominated rubbish.

The biggest World Cup of them all, the soccer circus, is the biggest disappointment because there is a large gap between expectations and reality.

Spain play with peerless midfield intricacy and Holland produce players of rare skill yet their World Cup final in Johannesburg this year was awful, as was the ugly 2006 final between Italy and France.

Cut-throat matches from the European competitions are way better.

Fifa might like to think it can save the world, but their premier tournament often turns the beautiful game into war.

The good news for cricket fans is that despite upheavals in the sport the Ashes retain their lustre, even if the current series has a lack of star quality.

Australia, down and out in Adelaide, are back in the hunt and England must respond. Long may this magnificent sporting rivalry remain.