Combining all the essentials of Caribbean life, the island provided an apt setting for the first and fourth Tests of the 1967-8 series against England, the last to date, won by an English team in the West Indies.

A glance at the talent available to both sides would make the present selectors blink in envy and disbelief.

Nobody in the current England team, who left London yesterday for a four-Test series, would win a place in Colin Cowdrey's side.

West Indies were a great team in slow but perceptible decline. Yet of the present outfit only captain Brian Lara, another son of Trinidad, would be a guaranteed selection in Garfield Sobers' XI.

It can be credibly argued that Cowdrey's batting line-up was as strong as any England have ever assembled.

Opening the batting were the obsessive Yorkshireman Geoff Boycott (Test average 47.72) and Surrey's John Edrich (43.54). Tom Graveney (44.38), in the twilight of his career but still in glorious form, followed. Then came the obdurate Ken Barrington (58.67), who died tragically in Barbados while coach of the 1980-1 tourists.

Cowdrey (44.06) and Basil D'Oliveira (40.06) completed the specialist batting. The weary bowlers then had to contend with two fine wicketkeeper-batsmen. Jim Parks, at the end of his Test career, averaged 32.16. Alan Knott, at the start of his, finished with 32.75.

The bowling was headed by John Snow, son of a Sussex vicar and sometime poet, moody and magnificent by turn. In four Tests he took 27 wickets, adding a devastating leg-cutter to his tight line and length and menacing bouncer.

AUTHENTIC GREATNESS
``It was probably the last occasion, on which England was able to send abroad so many players of authentic greatness,'' recalled Pat Pocock, the fledgling off-spinner making his second tour.

``I used to look at the team list and shake my head at the wonder of it all.

``The one thing which unified these clashing egos and conflicting ambitions was the streak of selfish pride, common to the best English professionals, which drove them to perform their own tasks to the limit of their talent.''

West Indies countered primarily through the incomparable Sobers. In five Tests, Sobers scored 545 runs at 90.83. With the ball, he took 13 wickets at 39.07.

Rohan Kanhai, another genuinely great batsman, scored 10 runs fewer at 59.44 and a gangling newcomer Clive Lloyd also averaged over 50.

Kanhai is possibly the least appreciated batsman in West Indies' history. He scored centuries in both innings in a Test in Australia, matched Sobers stroke-for-stroke on the triumphal 1963 tour of England and dazzled spectators with the extravagance of his stroke play, including a sweep shot played while lying on his back.

For James, Kanhai represented the essence of West Indies' cricket, a batsman apparently improvising as he went along but in fact applying relentless discipline and technique to take the game into hitherto unexplored areas.

The series was full of wonderful cricket but also ugly riots, one of which prevented England winning the second Test in Jamaica.

EARLY STORM
Crucially for West Indies, their giant fast bowling pair of Wesley Hall and Charlie Griffith were now only sporadically capable of sustained pace.

Once England had weathered the early storm in the first Test at Port of Spain, Sobers and off-spinner Lance Gibbs carried a heavy burden.

A drawn series, though, looked the likeliest outcome until an unexpected declaration by Sobers when the sides returned to Trinidad for the fourth Test.

In a move, which still sparks heated debate among West Indies' supporters, Sobers asked England to score 215 to win in 2-3/4 hrs. There was no minimum over requirement and teams could slow the game down as much as they wished.

An inveterate gambler, Sobers, who was without the injured Hall and Griffith, backed himself, Gibbs and two part-time leg-spinners to bowl England out. One of the spinners, Basil Butcher, had shown that England were vulnerable to wrist-spin with five for 34 in the first innings.

After an initially hesitant start, Boycott (80 not out) and Cowdrey (71) timed the run chase to perfection, as England won by seven wickets with three minutes to spare.

Stung by a barrage of unprecedented criticism, Sobers almost single-handedly levelled the series in the final Test in Guyana with 152 and 95 not out, coupled with three for 72 and three for 53 with the new ball.

But England had not come this far only to lose.

Jeff Jones, father of the present team's fast bowler Simon, was a number 11 in any company. In Georgetown he was the one man standing between Gibbs, the world's finest off-spinner, and a West Indies' victory in the final over of the match.