Tony Becca.
THE WORLD Cup of cricket is less than 15 months away and although it has never happened before, the West Indies are dreaming of becoming the first home team to win it.
The question, however, is this: Do they really have a chance?
Based on their ranking - number eight in the ICC's one-day listings - based on their bowling and their fielding, the West Indies chance of winning the World Cup seems no better than that of a snowball surviving in hell.
Based on their batting, however, or rather the batsmen in their line-up, they do have a chance.
Although the West Indies batting is so often hardly any better than their bowling and their fielding, with the likes of Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chander-paul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Devon Smith and Wavell Hinds, plus all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, it is the one promising area of their cricket.
In other words, as disappointing as it can be the West Indies batting can be exciting. For 50 overs it can also be devastating and the one-day version of the game is such that apart from narrowing the gap between the strong and the weak, batting can be decisive in winning matches.
In looking forward to the World Cup and victory, however, a lot could depend on the performance of Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Smith, and as I have been doing for the past few months, every West Indian should be praying that they will start to do justice to their talent, that they will win a place in the team, and that they will rise to the occasion.
A classic batsman with a wide range of strokes, Samuels has the ability to destroy bowlers - any bowler. And as his performance on Saturday against Jamaica at the Three W's Oval in Bridgetown once again underlined, so too, and even more so, does Smith.
Joining the action with Barbados on 157 for three replying to Jamaica's paltry 129, the gifted Smith smashed six sixes and six fours while slamming 94 in 90 minutes off 63 deliveries in an innings that, despite a few chances after passing 50, once again made me pray for him - as I have been doing also for Samuels - of West Indies cricket and in particular to the World Cup.
PROBLEM
Right now, Smith has a problem with his shot selection, but such is his talent, such is his timing and his power, that once he gets that right, bowlers around the world will be afraid of bowling to him.
On top of that, Smith is arguably the best fielder in the region, and he is also a good medium-pacer - so good that with a little improvement, with a bit more consistency, he could be the number five bowler in the team.
It may well be wishful thinking, but a team of, say, Gayle and Chanderpaul, Lara and Sarwan, Samuels, Dwayne Smith and Bravo, Denesh Ramdin and three specialist bowlers, probably Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore and Pedro Collins, could, with a little luck, really win the World Cup for the West Indies.
