In each of the first two World Cups, the West Indies beat Pakistan. Each time they went on to lift the trophy. As the ninth edition of cricket's showpiece opened yesterday, the Windies bested Pakistan again. This time the margin of victory was 54 runs.
By Garth WattleyThe venue this time was the cauldron of emotion that was Sabina Park.
A virtually filled arena, including 17 members of those Cup winning teams of 1975 and 1979, watched Brian Lara's side give the host nation the start they desperately wanted and early leadership of Group D.
They did so by putting up a competitive total of 241 for nine in their 50 overs. They did it with committed bowling throughout and with a near flawless fielding display, the kind that typified Clive Lloyd's World Cup winners.
You could say they were inspired.
"It was a tremendous atmosphere," Lara said later.
"As soon as we got 11 guys on the field, you saw the spirit and the camaraderie."
And in Dwayne Smith yesterday, they got a hero for the occasion. In him, the present-day West Indians found their Collis King.
His explosive, late order knock of 32 off 15 balls was reminiscent of some of cracking Collis' work in the 1970s.
And Smith's spell of 10-0-36-3 which included the vitally crucial wickets of first Mohammad Yousuf (37) and then skipper Inzamam ul-Haq (36) and Kamran Akmal in succession. Akmal's wicket came with much aid from Dwayne Bravo at backward point whose superb catch diving forward was one of the highlights of the afternoon, as was his reflex one-handed return catch to dismiss No.10 Umar Gul.
But it was Man-of-the-Match Smith's work which sent Pakistan from 99 for three to 116 for six which clinched the win and gave the home team the kind of start they desperately needed.
With justifiable pride then, the players saluted ecstatic sections of the crowd, so raucously supportive of their team all day after Shivnarine Chanderpaul had caught Danish Kaneria off Corey Collymore to end the Pakistan innings and the match at 187 with 2.4 overs remaining.
Left stranded on an unbeaten but futile 62 (54 balls, six fours) was Shoaib Malik. Like Marlon Samuels in the West Indies innings, he was his side's only half-century man.
This was not a game where the batsmen had it all their way.
Ask Pakistan opener Imran Nazir, who struck Darren Powell (10-1-42-2) for six second ball of the innings and was then out caught by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin with the third.
This match was also one that proved again the folly of judging too much by warm-up games.
Especially after the India warm-up debacle in Trelawny where his side got themselves out for 85, Lara would probably have preferred to bowl first. But Inzamam called right. His bowlers got first use of a pitch with true bounce and some seam help for the bowlers.
It made for a keen battle between willow and leather.
Leather struck the first telling blow.
In the third over, Chris Gayle edged a Gul delivery which left him to wicketkeeper Akmal. It was the first of four dismissals for the Pakistan gloveman. And the wicket quickly, but only temporarily quieted the Park.
Gul and his highly-effective new ball partner Rao Iftikhar (10-3-44-3) then kept the second wicket pair of Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan relatively quiet, but were unable to separate them.
The pair stayed together for exactly 17 overs, adding 57 before they both fell in the space of four overs.
Chanderpaul, never managing to step up his tempo in an innings that lasted 63 balls, was eventually an Iftikhar victim, edging a ball around off-stump to Akmal with the total on 64.
Sarwan, dropped first ball, slashing Gul to Younis Khan at second slip, played this innings like a thrill seeker. He stroked the ball pleasingly for nine fours in 49, but always gave the bowler a chance. Eventually, Iftikhar induced a rash cut at a ball too close for the shot and Younis held on this time.
Sarwan should probably have scored the first 50 of the tournament. Instead, that honour went to Samuels.
His 63 (75 balls, three sixes) ensured that Smith lower down had a score to build on. It was, as Marlon Samuels innings often are, a classy effort, decorated with some of the best straight hitting one can see in today's game. Three times, the stroke brought him sixes; one off Iftikar, another off leg-spinner Kaneria and the third off the off-spin of Malik.
In what is becoming a welcome habit for him, Samuels' was the kind of assured presence his side needed.
In partnership with his supportive skipper Lara (37, 56 balls, three fours, one six), he added 91 for the fourth wicket. Lara went first, under-edging a sweep to keeper Akmal at 168 and at 181, Samuels, cramped somewhat as he attempted to make room against Hafeez's off-spin, holed out to Malik on the long-on boundary. And with Ramdin being stumped off Kaneria in the next over, the innings was threatening to go into rapid decline.
Enter Smith the unpredictable, the crowd unsure of what he would give them.
When he eventually skied Gul to Inzamam at mid-on chasing runs in the penultimate over, he had belted his 32. With Bravo (16), he had put on a similarly quickfire 40.
It was not clear then how crucial those runs, or even the surprising six Corey Collymore smashed at the end of the innings would be.
By game's end, everything was as clear as the bright Kingston sky.
