A rare bright spot amid the bad news of late was the Australian cricket team's comprehensive victory in the one-day cricket World Cup in India early on Monday morning.
To beat India, which had gone through the series undefeated, on its own turf and in front of a crowd of 125,000 largely local cricket tragics was a remarkable achievement.
The six-wicket defeat left the Indian team, which most pundits had expected to emerge victorious, absolutely stunned. The same was true for the crowd.
Australia had, after all, had a poor start to the series, losing its first two matches to India and South Africa, respectively.
That confidence was always at risk of being misplaced, however, given Australia's long track record of success in this competition.
Sunday was the sixth time Australia had clinched the World Cup - utter dominance considering the next best ranked are India and the West Indies, who have both won the tournament twice.
The final clash combined finesse and teamwork on both sides with moments of high drama. While the strong performance by the Australian bowlers, which saw India bowled out for just 240 runs, meant we were in with a good chance, it was never going to be a lay down misère.
With Australia at 3-47 early in their innings, the match could have easily gone India's way. Travis Head was literally the game-changer, powering through to a century before maxing out a match-winning 137 runs.
This achievement was all the more remarkable given it came off the back of Head's recovery from a fractured hand that at one stage looked set to sideline him for the series.
The decision by the Australian selectors to bring him back into the team despite the cloud over his fitness was utterly vindicated. Sunday night's performance was the icing on the cake; a series-winning batting performance for the ages.
His efforts, coupled with an unbeaten 58 from Marnus Labuschagne, bought the match - and the series - to an abrupt close.
It was a remarkable effort by a united and well-disciplined team which has blossomed under the able leadership of Pat Cummins who, yet again, has managed to silence the critics and doubters who - at times in the past - had claimed he wasn't up to the task of captaining Australia.
More than one or two commentators and armchair pundits will be eating their words.
Leaving the result aside for one moment, Australia's performance at the World Cup was also notable for an absence of scandal, sledging and poor form.
While, as they have just demonstrated, this team is absolutely world class, the old "win at all costs" culture that bought Australia into considerable disrepute in international cricketing circles a few years ago appears to be a thing of the past.
Sport, especially cricket, should always be played in a spirit of sportsmanlike rivalry. There is no place for the tactics of "mental disintegration" that were practised under Steve Waugh and others.
And, on the subject of remarkable performances, it's only right the cricketing public acknowledge the achievements of the Afghanistan team which clocked up some remarkable results in the face of considerable adversity.
Afghanistan scored four wins, three of them back-to-back against England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands in a total of nine matches.
Only a stunning match-saving double century from Glenn Maxwell prevented them from defeating Australia.
It's fair to say, however, that like the Australians, the Afghan underdogs will receive a heroes' welcome when they return to their troubled homeland.
They have earned it.
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