Small but perfectly formed

On many levels, the story of St Kitts is the most uplifting of a myriad of tales to have emerged from the chaotic preparations for this World Cup. It is the story of how a land the size of an English county town rose above its humble status to claim a share of the biggest prize of all. While the big dogs squabbled and were left floundering to be finished on time, St Kitts merely enlisted the help of another of the world's underdogs, Taiwan, and delivered a delightful 8000-seater stadium from scratch, on time and on budget.

It's a tale with all the ingredients for a classic feelgood movie, although the happy ending will have to remain on hold for a little while longer. On Wednesday, the World Champions, Australia, take on Scotland in opening match of Group A, and only then will we see quite what this remarkable little island has to offer. The initial impressions are encouraging if a touch confusing, for cricket is not a game inscribed on this nation's soul.

Not once in the history of West Indian cricket has a native of St Kitts represented the Test team (though Joey Benjamin, born in Christ Church in 1961, did turn out for England in 1994). Nevis, the island's twin that rises high through the mist, 6km to the south, has had a fractionally better return with a total of five - including Keith Arthurton, Stuart Williams and Runako Morton, whose exploits in a losing cause in New Zealand last year earned him a plot of land from the government and the misplaced assumption that he had arrived as an international cricketer. He did not make this World Cup party.

The tale of St Kitts is a tale of achievement but also of neglect. West Indian cricket was a phenomenon that bypassed this tiny island (and tiny is the operative word - by the last count the combined population of St Kitts and Nevis was 39,618, which is less than the capacity of the newly-reconstructed Gabba). In the island's National Museum, the names of every carnival queen since 1972 have been printed out on a central display (and there's an interesting array of porcelain bed-pans as well), but cricket is very much an afterthought.

In fact, a temporary exhibition has had to be set up in a separate room - a selection of photos, mostly borrowed from nearby Antigua, and a lone West Indies shirt (from their ignominious 1996 World Cup campaign, of all the moments in history to forget). The cheery curator thanks me for popping in and urges me to "spread the word", which I am only too glad to do, although I remain baffled by her opening gambit. "So where are you from," she asks. "China/Japan?"

Cricketing hotbeds they are not, and yet, the assumption is revealing, for St Kitts' best friends, since independence from Britain in 1983, are all from the Far East. The Basseterre Fisheries Complex, on the seafront near the port, was built with a substantial donation from Tokyo (which may or may not have been connected to the island's subsequent backing of Japan's bid to overturn the whaling ban). As for Taiwan's influence, that has already been amply documented.

The point is, the arrival of the Cricket World Cup in St Kitts does not feel like a case of regeneration, as the ICC and the West Indian Cricket Board would have us believe. It is more a case of conception - the planting of a seed where nothing previously has existed. "I did wonder if they would ever get it done,” said Chris Dehring, the tournament organiser, when he first saw the area of scrubland in the centre of Basseterre which was being proposed as the new home of St Kitts cricket. Unlike the rest of the World Cup project, this was one arena he did not need to worry about.

How many of the locals, however, will be taking part in the cricket carnival? Indirectly, of course, it affects them all. The capital, Basseterre, is a beautiful Creole market-town, decked out in pastille colours and equipped with all the amenities a one-horse town could need. A clock-tower, a church, a two-pump Shell Garage positioned right on the high street. Now added to that mix is string upon string of flags and banners proclaiming the arrival of the World Cup, although with the cheapest of seats on Warner Park's grassy banks costing upwards of US$80, few of the locals are expected at any of the matches.

Is the Caribbean ready for this event? That's the question being asked all across the region as the minutes tick down to zero hour, but in St Kitts, they are as ready as they'll ever be. The roundabout outside Robert Bradshaw Airport is still undergoing some last-minute restructuring, while the gravel-pit that passes for Warner Park's carpark could do with a bit of sprucing up. But the pitch is in place and the teams are ensconced in the newly completed Marriott Hotel, one of the finest of its ilk in the Caribbean. This is one little island that's ready for its big adventure.