Coming back for more

At least there's no danger now of peaking too soon in the countdown to the World Cup.

A run of seven losses in the last nine one-day internationals - sealed by the 160-run mauling at the hands of the apparently-resurgent Indians in Vadodara - has severely dented a lot of the bravado and confident expectations of home team glory come April 28 at the new Kensington Oval.

In keeping with the wildly fluctuating moods of fans in the region, and indeed many passionate followers of the game around the globe, the side that was being hailed three months ago as a genuine chance to lift the World Cup on home soil is now being rubbished at every turn. That volatility is the same in the considerably larger theatre of Indian cricket, where there seemed a genuine sense of hopelessness following the tour of South Africa. Yet, judging by the bubbling enthusiasm in the glow of the 3-1 series win over West Indies, the general impression is that everything is now back on track.

Just as Brian Lara's freakish run out dismissal at the non-striker's end typified the decline in West Indian fortunes, Sachin Tendulkar's blazing assault on the way to a 41st ODI hundred has given new life to millions of fans on the subcontinent who fluctuate from misery to merriment depending on the form of their hero.

Not surprisingly, the emotive responses from Kolkata to Kingston are excessive. Indeed, the degree to which both sets of fans and media indulge in triumphalist celebrations at the faintest hint of success merely guarantees that the weeping and wailing will be equally extreme when things go wrong.

It's the same everywhere. England's indulgent glorifying at reclaiming the Ashes in September 2005 has been counter-balanced by the vitriol generated by a disastrous tour of Australia. The Australians, for their part, are now being accused of going over the top in trumpeting revenge over the old enemy mere months after pulling out the long knives for Ricky Ponting and company. So it has been, so it will be. And so you just try to pick sense from nonsense and seek, as objectively as possible, to assess strengths, weaknesses and the way forward in the six weeks leading up to the opening World Cup match against Pakistan at Sabina Park.

A team that could annihilate South Africa in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, defeat Australia twice in consecutive tournaments and get the better of India in six of eight matches before this latest series doesn't just transform into a collection of bumbling incompetents overnight, even if it may appear that way.

If the capitulation two days ago suggests that all is lost, keep in mind that a combined 34 runs was the difference between victory and defeat in the first two matches, while a late stumble in the successful run-chase in the penultimate fixture only took some of the gloss off the pursuit. This is not a question so much of ability as focus, hence the infuriating inconsistency. We've been waiting 12 years now for that to change. Expecting a wholesale transformation in less than two months is a bit on the unrealistic side of the equation, even with the revered Clive Lloyd now back as team manager (the official title of Team Co-ordinator is just a waste of four extra letters and a hyphen to say the same thing).

We essentially have to make the most with what we've got, and let us not pretend that there is not the proven performance to keep the flames of hope from being extinguished completely.

In Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lara and Marlon Samuels, the West Indies have a top five to match any team in the world, not merely on the basis of potential or exaggerated expectations, but runs, and in the case of Gayle and Samuels, decent bowling spells as well. Denesh Ramdin may seem to be under pressure, but that is of his own making. It's not as if he hasn't already excelled at the very highest level, so the challenge is his-no-one else's-to return to his best and stay there for the foreseeable future. The previous two sentences also apply precisely to Dwayne Bravo, so just replace "wicketkeeper-batsman" with "all-rounder" because I'm running out of space.

On the bowling side, apart from the options provided by Bravo, Gayle, Samuels and even Sarwan, opening bowlers Ian Bradshaw and Jerome Taylor showed throughout much of 2006 that they can be relied upon to keep even the most rampant opponents in check more often than not. One or two wayward spells here and there can't change that reality.

That's nine players. Make it ten if Dwayne Smith is retained for his useful bowling and brilliant all-round fielding only, because relying on anything from his batting is like expecting every World Cup venue to be 100% ready by the time the first ball is bowled. On this basis, only one spot remains to complete an 11, with a further four to finalise a 15-man squad. That is enough to guarantee all sorts of emotive speculation over the next few days, enough for the uninitiated to feel that the sky is falling on West Indian cricket.

Maybe it will, but then again, there is the chance that it won't. It is that chance that keeps us celebrating, agonising and coming back for more.