TOURING the West Indies is an exciting experience, and if cricket is involved, then it is even more enchanting.

The game introduced to the islands during the British occupation is a religiously followed thing. Cricket combined with calypso music have great appeal in the modern day islands.

Every island is a country with its own government and parliament and its own cricket team. The union of those islands is what we call the West Indies. Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbean islands by mistake but cricket discovered the West Indies.

Jamaica where the ongoing Test is being played is one of the three bigger islands of the Caribbean Sea after Cuba and Haiti and also one of the most beautiful spot in the northern hemisphere. It is proud to have produced greats of the game such as the George Headley, ‘The black Bradman’ as he was called for his prowess with the bat, and fast bowlers of fearsome reputation as Roy Gilchrist, Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh and left-arm spinner Alfred Valentine to name a few.

Sabina Park, the venue of the Test, is centrally based and now has different look than when I first covered a Test there against India in 1988-89. Pitches were fast then, but are comparatively docile in nature now.

From the first Test on this ground in 1930 when Andy Sandham of England scored a triple century - the first in Test history — to now, the ground has seen history. It was here that Sir Garfield Sobers hit 365* against Pakistan in 1957-58 to go past Sir Len Hutton’s 364, the highest individual score in Tests. That was his first century in Tests.

Walking past the ‘Gun Court’ outside the ground where gun-related crime prisoners wait for trial, one enters the ground but not before a remark or two by the accused prisoners from behind the barbed wire fences about the quality of the West Indian cricket, its strength and weaknesses.

Once inside you mingle with the enthusiastic spectators lining up to buy cow foot soup, sugarcane butts and plenty of rum to savor the occasion and shouting their heart out while enjoying the finer points of the game with a puff of ‘Gaanja’ to go with.

It was surely something different for me to experience in a cricket match. But that is what Sabina Park is in a nutshell.

However, what really reminds me most of a Caribbean tour was my visit with Pakistan in 1987-88 when Imran Khan - back from retirement - almost led us to a victory in a series against the West Indies. Having lost all five ODIs, Pakistan were written off but they bounced back to shock the West Indies at Guyana in the first Test by nine wickets inside four days.

The visitors nearly pulled off another victory at Trinidad when Javed Miandad scored his second successive Test hundred in the series as Pakistan chased 372. Once he was out, Pakistan had to drop the shutters as wickets fell quickly and Abdul Qadir, the last man, survived five deliveries of the last over to earn a draw.

In the final Test at Barbados. Pakistan was deprived of victory by some atrocious umpiring as West Indies aided by dicey decisions from umpire David Archer managed to get the last 50 odd runs with two wickets in hand to draw the series.

Before the series had begun Miandad was challenged by his captain Imran who said he is not one of the batting greats because he has never scored a hundred against the West Indies.

Miandad, as determined as Younis Khan now is, had already scored his first century against West Indies in the final ODI. Accepting his captain’s challenge, he scored a hundred in the first Test at Guyana (114) and another brilliant century at Trinidad (102) to settle the challenge.

Miandad, an intimidating batsman, not only scored those hundreds in style but also in turn threw his challenge to Curtly Ambrose — the debutant in the first Test — to take him on.

Ambrose bowled a bouncer at him which Miandad dispatched over backward point for four. He bowled another at him which went past fine leg for another boundary. There were no limitations on bowling short pitch deliveries then and as Ambrose walked back to his mark, Miandad was half way down the pitch in the middle. The tall pacer looked at Miandad who asked him to bowl another bouncer to him.

Ambrose accepted the challenge and bowled another bouncer but Miandad was ready for it and dispatched it to deep square leg for another fine boundary to ruin Ambrose’s debut.

That was the sort of greatness that epitomized Miandad’s batting. It was a great spectacle indeed.

Younis, I feel, is made of that kind of stuff that Miandad was in his heyday. He is determined to do well in his farewell series and bid goodbye in style to the game that he adores as much as Miandad used to, serving his country in situations that are beyond ordinary mortals.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2017