'Slow death' at Montego Bay

The setting for the Indians’ opening fixture of the West Indian tour was in stark contrast to what they experienced in Pakistan, on their previous overseas tour, five months ago. In January this year, they kicked off their campaign against Pakistan A at Bagh-e-Jinnah, a pastoral setting in Lahore, in extremely chilly conditions.

Security concerns prompted the authorities to disallow the fans into the arena and eager spectators watched from beyond the pickets. It was more like watching an exhibition match with the mute button turned on.

Jarrett Park was quite the opposite. Around 4000 enthusiasts packed the picturesque football stadium – the last international side to play here was England, back in 1998 - and created a carnival atmosphere. A commentator kept them updated with the goings-on and triggered several moments of mirth with his jocular style.

As the Jamaica XI were staring at a big defeat, he chuckled: "The next batsman is Tamar Lambert. All we can do is wish him luck". More significant was the previous announcement: "We request all of you to use plastic cups while sharing alcohol. We do not encourage glass items inside the ground." One can imagine the kind of uproar such an announcement might have elicited five months back in Pakistan considering, leave alone grounds, alcohol isn’t even allowed inside the country.

Somewhere around the halfway stage of the game, Montego Bay’s most famous son makes an appearance. Steve Bucknor – footballer, cricketer, football referee, cricket umpire, "slow death" et al – is the most recognisable figure in these parts. He waves to the crowd graciously; some respond by raising the index finger. He chats with his friends at Jarrett Park, feels Ricky Ponting will break every record in the book, and raves about the magical qualities of Warne, Murali and Harbhajan. One of the local umpires tells us the secret behind Bucknor: "He always cool maan, he good because he cool." Later in the night, Bucknor duly proves him wrong by losing his temper in a traffic jam while driving back to Kingston.