Can the hosts exploit home advantage?

West Indies cricket continues to lurch from crisis to crisis and each time there is a glimmer of light they find a way to hit new depths. Ottis Gibson has returned home to take on the demanding role of trying to instil some fight and spirit back into the team and at least the recent one-day series victory against Zimbabwe reversed a depressing run of results. In truth, though, a revival has rarely felt further away.

However, a quick-fire Twenty20 tournament could provide the kick that is desperately needed. Throw in home advantage and, hopefully, some passionate support from the locals and it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that they could last the distance - at least until the semi-finals. Any tournament is better the longer the hosts can maintain a challenge and it only takes a couple of innings from Chris Gayle - whose form is a barometer for the rest of his side - and suddenly the belief will begin to return.

In the broader picture it is vital that this tournament is a success for the Caribbean after the debacle of the 2007 World Cup. The organisers have promised a more sympathetic handling of the event than three years back, by embracing the local culture, but nothing would help more than seeing Gayle lead his team out in the final. It's a long shot, but not impossible.

They reached the semi-final stage in England last year - dispatching Australia and the hosts on their way - while Gayle still holds the record for the highest individual score in World Twenty20 tournaments with his 117 in the opening game of the first event in South Africa. Of late their form has been less impressive with an embarrassing defeat against Zimbabwe in Trinidad when they limped to 79 for 7 chasing 106 on a turgid surface. The opening match against Ireland is a potential banana skin, but they have a good record against England in Twenty20 having beaten them in last year's tournament.

West Indies are not short on batsmen who can clear the boundary. Brett Lee is still waiting for Gayle's strike from last year to come down somewhere near The Oval, while Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard are also fearsome strikers of the ball. One area of concern will be the pace-bowling department which is still without Fidel Edwards while Jerome Taylor is nursing his way back from injury. There is also the fear that if things start to go wrong they can unravel very quickly. In a short tournament like this you can be gone before it's barely started.

Of course it's difficult to look past Chris Gayle because the team responds to their captain but Dwayne Bravo, despite a pretty woeful IPL where he scored 61 runs in eight innings and claimed four wickets at 57 for Mumbai Indians, is a wonderful cricketer and is the embodiment of the spirit that the team so desperately needs. He will want to reconfirm his credentials and should rise to the big occasion. Often outstanding at the death with the ball, he is among the finest fielders on the world.

Sulieman Benn doesn't come across as the most natural of Twenty20 cricketers; he isn't the best of fielders and can't offer much with the bat but with the ball he could be a vital weapon if the pitches remain slow. Don't be surprised if he takes the new ball, as he did against Zimbabwe when he finished with the extraordinary figures of 4 for 6.