The Cricket World Cup final takes place this Sunday, and, incredibly, England are in it.

While it is a wonderful achievement and will contribute to an excellent day of sport in the UK, with the Wimbledon men's final and the British Grand Prix also on that day, you could be forgiven for not even knowing the tournament was on.

That is because the whole tournament, bar this weekend's showpiece which will also be shown on Channel 4 and More4, has been hidden behind a paywall in the form of Sky Sports.

I can understand Sky Sports' desire to keep the rights all to themselves, but why on earth is the tournament not given the same free-to-air protected status as the football and rugby World Cups, which are, quite rightly, given wall-to-wall coverage on free-to-air terrestrial television on the BBC and ITV?

Yes, a lengthy 100-over match every day for five weeks or so may not set tv bosses' pulses racing, as I'm sure millions won't tune in to watch the entirety of a seven-hour group stage match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

But it's 2019, we have the internet and the red button for that and the key games can be broadcast on the main channels. At least they are actually accessible then without needing an exorbitant monthly subscription.

The World Cups of those sports are almost always memorable affairs for millions of people, even if they are not avid fans of that sport.

We all remember Jonny Wilkinson's glorious winning drop-goal in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, or England's glorious near-miss in the FIFA World Cup semi-final last summer.

Less glorious, but very entertaining nonetheless, was Brazil's 7-1 humiliation on home soil in the 2014 tournament.

But could the average person remember any event of any Cricket World Cup? Probably not, unless they are a cricket follower.

It is especially mad this year given that the tournament is being held on English soil.

There is always the talk of legacy after a big tournament, and how it can be used to inspire people to follow the sport and take it up at grassroots level. We had this just last week after the successful FIFA Women's World Cup, shown in its entirely on the BBC, concluded.

But if you can't see it, why are you going to suddenly want to play it?

Cricket is one of the country's major sports and it should be celebrated as such. If the majority miss out on a historic national sporting moment because they didn't realise it was hidden away on More4, then it will go down as yet another missed opportunity.