At last, the biggest show in world cricket is on. The prolonged hype and wait is over. From now we see cricket and only cricket.

And what a fiery note to start this great event with Australian captain Ricky Ponting hitting out, no holds barred, at Sunil Gavaskar, because our batting legend had written about the Aussies’ rude attitude and behaviour on and off the field.

This I have experienced first hand. It was way back in 1967-68, the Indians had completed their tour, and there was a farewell dinner in Sydney organised by the Australian Board, where Sir Donald Bradman, considered God to the cricketing fraternity all over the world even now, was giving a speech. His goodbye speech was getting slightly long, when some Australian players started booing him. It was slow, but in chorus. We were all aghast, stunned and terribly embarrassed too.

In fact, when we had landed in Australia for that series, we were asked to clean the dust from the soles of our cricket shoes. It was as if the Aussies play the game in the air, never touching the dirt from the cricket ground.

I suppose this rude behaviour is in their blood and heredity.

On the field, it was a good opening to the World Cup, too. Hosts West Indies and Pakistan are both most unpredictable and unreliable. Both epitomise the gospel truth of this one-day game on inconsistency. Of course, India aren’t too far behind. The hosts won fair and square, but the result isn’t going to matter, because the way the groups have been formed with the inclusion of the minnows, even the mid-caps are most likely to scrape through to the Super Eights.

However, that’s where the similarity between the two teams end. The West Indians are emotional, instinctive and happy go lucky by nature, though highly talented. The Pakistanis, though equally talented, are always mired in some controversy or other.

Yes, the West Indians have produced greats like George Headley nicknamed Black Bradman, the three Ws, Sobers, Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Brian Lara, in addition to great pace bowlers in Hall, Gilchrist, Holding, Andy Roberts, Marshall etc.

Till yesterday, there was big talk about the nature of the wickets in the West Indies. It was supposed to be slow and low, favouring spinners. But this wicket at Sabina Park, Kingston, seems to have defied many experts. Of course, it wasn’t the typical Jamaican wicket of yesteryears when the speedster could comb his hair in its reflection. This one looked a perfect batting track, except that it had some moisture to start with, and as the day progressed, it dried up further, getting better. Hope it lasts till the show gets over.

That little bit of moisture must have made Inzamam-ul Haq choose to field after winning the toss. Unfortunately, it boomeranged for lack of confidence in his own medium pacers and who also did not look that aggressive except Rao Iftikhar, who managed to get three wickets. And just to prove that Pakistan are equally unpredictable, they lost their first wicket too early and thereafter, the West Indies bowlers bowled excellent line and length, most economical among them being Collymore.

At some stage of the match, his figures were reading 4 runs in 7 overs. But that should not distract from the all-round effort made by Smith who appears quite mature for his age.

It was quite apt that he was chosen Man of the Match.

In fact, Lara didn’t bother to bring in the spinners as his counterpart did without much success.

My gut feeing is that Samuels will go on to be another West Indies great. He is natural, gutsy and tremendously powerful.

The bad start with Gayle chasing the outgoing delivery from Gul put the West Indies batsmen under pressure. If the catch from Saravanan was gobbled the first ball he flashed off Younis Khan, the story could have been different. It was that daredevil batting from Samuels and Smith that made West Indies end with 241 runs for Pakistan to chase.

It wasn’t that difficult, especially when the boundary was so short, the ground was fast and wicket was flat.

Perhaps the terrible jolt the West Indies suffered at the hands of India in the practice match came as an eye-opener. With this easy victory the West Indies will be a force to reckon.

The conversion of Sabina Park into a beautiful modern stadium of world class brought back nostalgic memories of the past. Way back in 1971, it was here that I, as a captain of the Indian team, went straight to the dressing room of the West Indies and asked Gary Sobers, their captain, to bat, meaning that India were enforcing the follow-on for first time on the West Indies. And that too on their own soil.