Well, said P, what do you know, the West Indies searched real hard on Monday night and found their game face for Tuesday's World Cup Cricket opener against Pakistan at Sabina Park, Kingston.

A win by the West Indies in cricket is a rare thing. A win by the West Indies that is emphatic is even more odd - and this is what the team of burgundy-clad youngsters delivered Tuesday with clarity and purpose.

But what was that performance all about anyway - 72 hours after the said team entered the record books with one of the lowest totals from a ridiculously low number of overs? P says, and I fear that I must agree, that it is all luck. That is right, it is all luck.

Now believe me, P and I are not wagonist. Oh no, we lose sleep and spend many hours discussing the tribulations of this team and wondering about their fortune. We are indeed hardcore West Indian cricket supporters for nearly four decades.

But most of all, we are realists. And the record of this teams' inconsistency certainly in the last 10 years tells you that any thing that will happen with them in this tournament is all luck. The quality of the performance of a team must lie in the overall trend of the performance of that team.

We certainly hope that the team goes the distance. But we are taking it all one game at a time. So we say one down, one more to go next Monday. In fact, when we really think about the current tourney and where the Windies will go - right now we just need them to get out of the group stage.

So if Bennett King went to an obeah yard on his way into the city from Trelawny, he needs to go back and pay the man/woman a bonus and check them again on Sunday for Monday for some more of the same oil. 'Oil a mek wi win'.

A couple of people question my luck theory. They holler, didn't you see how those last Pakistani wickets tumbled in the end? Luck. Understand this, the Australian team is not lucky - nope, the Australian team is good. Right now, sad to say, the Windies team does not stand up to the same scrutiny as the Aussies. But with luck - the Windies can beat the Aussies in a one day.

It was a great feeling though. And it is really special to see West Indian people happy - Jamaicans in particular. What was also touching was the pure joy on the faces of the team members. The taste of joy and infectiousness of it all should drive the luck - don't you think?

Email comments to:

myfriendp@hotmail.com