There has been quite a lot of justifiably positive noises raised recently about the advent of the young Jamaica and West Indies cricketer, Ricardo Powell, to international cricket. To understand how young he is, one must note that he was only born on 16 December 1978. The guy is not yet twenty.

Incidentally, he makes me feel rather ancient, as, by the time he was actually born, I had already played two series for the West Indies and one for Kerry Packer's World Series cricket, having made my debut in 1977, aged 23. It should also be noted that the last really truly successful cricketer to have played in the West Indies cricket team, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, also joined the West Indies team, in 1994, at the ripe old age of 19. As I have been advocating since I began doing Sports Journalism in 1992, "Bring on the youth. They could only improve with time."

Some of the noises about young Powell, though, seem to be emanating from the same quarters which confused us with their selections during the last World Cup. Except for the enforced absence of Coach Malcolm Marshall through illness, The Management and selection teams for the senior West Indies cricket team are still the same as existed before and throughout the World Cup. Brian Lara is still captain, Clive Lloyd has even become Manager/Coach, instead of just Manager, while the selectors, Michael Findlay, Joey Carew and Joel Garner are still in place.

Ironically, these are the same people who contrived to continue with the drivel of selecting players like Stewart Williams during the World Cup while Ricardo Powell only had one game in that tournament. Since Powell has not played any international cricket since the World Cup, I would suggest that he could not have improved so very much, nor indeed, lost any of his skills, in the few non-cricketing months since then. He is, for all intents and purposes, the same player. Yet, somehow, he only managed one game, against mighty Pakistan, no less, in the World Cup.

I suppose it is never too late to have the blindfolds removed, or, what I prefer to believe more, the selectors and team officials have no choice now but to now listen to all of us who could actually see the forest, the presence of the trees notwithstanding.

Powell's dynamic hitting does suggest that he might be more suited for one day cricket than Test cricket. However, that would be a very premature, and, probably, more likely even, wrong assessment of the young man. There has been no Test series involving the West Indies since Powell has been selected to the senior team. His big test, punningly, will come when the West Indies tour New Zealand a few months from now. Not only are New Zealand full of confidence after beating England, but they would be playing at home. Like most teams, New Zealand are quite difficult to beat at home.

A final word on Ricardo Powell. He seems to have a very level and fresh outlook. When originally selected to replace the retired, and probably still confused Carl Hooper for the World Cup, Ricardo Powell was quick to say the things which have not come out of the mouths of West Indian players recently.

When is the last time anyone has heard anyone except perhaps captain Brian Lara and veteran Courtney Walsh suggest that "It is a joy and privilege to be selected to represent the West Indies at cricket. I am eager to go out there and do my best although I know that it would be a great challenge"

Almost everyone else seem to be more involved with their accountants than with the umpires. I think that Ricardo Powell has his priorities in the right place. Do well at the cricket and, these days, the Pounds, Dollars, Rands etc, would eventually be enough to call the accountants, sooner rather than later. Powell's freshness is exhilarating

He will have to keep his head, though, despite the good fortune heaped on the West Indies cricket fraternity recently. I say good fortune in a strange way, as the senior West Indies cricket team will have many one day games in the immediate future to hone their skills and maybe, hopefully, include even more promising young players.

Immediately after the Singapore series, the West Indies have been drafted into the Toronto Cricket Festival, six additional games, all because the Pakistanis and Indians seem to be at political loggerheads. Their political problem, and perhaps mistrust on the cricket field, has favored the West Indies cricket-wise. Then, the West Indies will go immediately to Bangladesh and then to Sharjah. These guys are becoming globetrotters. Let us hope that they also, like Ricardo Powell seems to think, revert to being good ambassadors, on and off of the field. This is a very good time for West Indies cricket and could be well used to put the right things in place.