But still there was the element of the fete match about yesterday's NorTel encounter at the Queen's Park Oval.
Still, Darren Ganga's Trinidad and Tobago side were serious enough to sink the Windward Islands by 78 runs in their 50 overs encounter.
It may have disturbed the onlooker that he was watching the best of the next generation of West Indies cricketer. At least some of the best. But the Queen's Park clubbers could not buck reality.
That the home side was able to win so handsomely, with 22 overs and one ball to spare and join Jamaica and Barbados as first round winners, was impressive. Except that the Windwards, chasing a paltry-looking 131 in 47 overs managed just 53!
Maybe the long, rain-induced lay-off got to them. It certainly was not the slow, placid Oval strip that prevented an individual score higher than 7. Perhaps the shift away from ''proper'' cricket prompted improper approaches. Maybe.
But while the steady procession of Windwards players to and from the pavilion may have pleased the home audience, little else did. Little except the bustling Asif Jan.
Nippy and accurate, his fast-medium left-handed stuff upstaged the earlier three-wicket effort of Windwards leg spinner Camilus Alexander.
Jan went one better, undoing four Windwards batsmen, two of them-Kellon George and Hezron Lawrence off successive balls.
His opening partner Theodore Modeste also got through good work from the pavilion end with two wickets. His capture of opener Devon Smith, caught by wicketkeeper Navin Chan before lunch started the slide. And where he and Jan left off, the left arm spinners Kishore Lalchan (2 for 4) and Dave Mohammed 2 for 3), took up and completed the job.
Lalchan was helped no end by Imran Jan's spectacular one-handed diving catch at short midwicket to dismiss Kenroy Martin.
But in this game of low scoring, Andy Jackson still had fun. He was the only T&T batsman to get past the twenties.
And his typically attacking 42 was the foundation of the home side's innings.
His initial stability was vital.
Resuming on the reserve day unsteadily placed on 9 for 2, the locals had already lost their skipper and leading batsman, Darren Ganga. But Jackson and overnight partner Imran Jan steadied things somewhat with their partnership of 39.
Left-handed Jackson, with a love and some capacity for smacking the leather, was undeterred by his partner's departure at 48 when Alexander, with his second ball of the game, had Jan stumped down the legside by wicketkeeper Kellon George. He also saw Zaheer Ali dismissed before he went.
Having struck three fours, including an authoritative pull off pacer Troy George and two sixes, one of which was a clean long-on hit, he overindulged and was bowled, backing away to slap Alexander through the offside.
At 63 for 5 in the 24th over however, things were still bad. And it took the hard lower order work of Mohammed (21 in 46 minutes) and Chan (20 in 60 minutes) to get T&T up to their ''winning'' score. The party could have started then. For as the afternoon proved, the fete was already over.
At Squadron ground, Barbados, paced by a fine 57 from opener Cory Yearwood, cruised to an easy six-wicket win over the Leewards Islands at Squadron ground.
Yearwood struck three fours and one six to steer his team to 113 for 4 in reply to the Leewards total of 109. Earlier, when the Leewards batted, they found runs very difficult to come by against some very accurate bowling and excellent fielding by the Bajans.
As the revamped competition enters its second round today, early leaders T&T and Jamaica clash at Munroe Road. At Squadron ground, Barbados go in search of another win against the Windwards , defending champs Guyana and the Leewards will seek to recover lost ground at Petrotrin, Penal, while Canada will go for a second straight win over the NorTel development team at Wilson Road.