Tony Becca FROM THE BOUNDARY

THE ICC's Under-19 World Cup tournament opens in Malaysia today with two-time defending champions Pakistan taking on hosts Malaysia in Penang. The world, the cricket fraternity part of it, is looking forward to some exciting play and some wonderful contests in what should be a lovely tournament.

As far as West Indians are concerned, however, the tourna-ment really begins tomorrow when the West Indies take on South Africa in Kuala Lumpur. On top of everything else, they are hoping and praying that the young West Indians will cover themselves in glory and will return home as champions.

Because of the age limit which brings in new faces each time the tournament is held, it is always difficult to pick, or even to guess, a winner in a youth tournament. Because of that, it is hard to say how well the West Indies will perform.

Based on their performance at the previous six tournaments, however, based on the fact they have made it to only one final, to only two semi-finals, that they did not even come out of the first round on three occasions, that teams, not so much like Bangladesh but more so like Nepal, have done as well or better than they have done in the past, and the fact that this time around they are ranked at number seven, two behind Bangladesh and one ahead of Zimbabwe, it does not seem that they can come home with anything but the Plate Trophy - the consolation prize for those teams which fail to come out of the first round.

Brian Lara ... played in 1988 tournament. - file

format

According to the competition's format, there will be four groups of four teams each. The top two from each group will move on to the Super League; the bottom two will step aside and compete for the Plate. Apart from Papa New Guinea, the team that is ranked at number 15 out of 16 in the West Indies group, in Group B, are India, ranked number two behind Pakistan, and South Africa, who are ranked at number 10.

Based on the ranking, the West Indies should make it to the second round - to the Super League, but one can never tell. It appears that it will come down to the result of the game between them and South Africa.

Based on the look of the team, however, based on the performance of batsmen like Adrian Barath, Kieran Powell, André Creary, Darren Bravo, Horace Miller, Shacoya Thomas and Kyle Corbin, an all-rounder like captain Shamar Brooks, pace bowlers like Jason Dawes and left-hander Del Johnson, and spin bowlers like left-hander Veersammy Permaul and legspinner Nkrumah Bonner, the West Indies could beat the odds and surprise the world.

On top of that, and lest it be forgotten they were only practice matches, it must be remembered that the West Indies defeated Sri Lanka, ranked number six, and Australia, number three, last week. By winning one by four wickets and one by five wickets, they did so with a degree of ease.

Test stars

When we remember the number of West Indies Test players and Test stars who, as expected and probably obviously, played in the Under-19 World Cup - players like Brian Lara, James Adams, Ridley Jacobs, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle; Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Danesh Kaneira, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik of Pakistan; Mike Atherton, Mark Ramprakash, Andrew Caddick, Nasser Hussain and Alistair Cooke of England; Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana of Sri Lanka; Chris Cairns, Lou Vincent and Brendan McCullum of New Zealand; Graeme Smith and Jacques Rudolph of South Africa; Virendar Sehwaq, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif of India; Michael Clarke and Shane Watson of Australia, who also played in the Cup - the West Indies, in this time of need, must be hoping that like Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo of recent times, some of this bunch will perform, and will, eventually, not only represent the West Indies, but will do so successfully.

What is even more important is for the players to benefit from the exposure, so that in time they will, probably become, not so much like Sikhar Dhawan of India, Brett Williams of Australia and Cameron White of Australia, who despite being the top three run-getters respectively in 1988, 2002 and in 2004, are still to play Test cricket, but more so like Lara, who, with a batting aggregate of 222 runs, a top score of 64, and an average of 27.75 in 1988, does not even appear on the list featuring the top 45 batsmen in the history of the competition.

It would be nice if the young West Indians perform this time around. Failure, however, would not be the end of the world for any of them - not when it is remembered tha Inzamam averaged 37.16 in 1988, his total, from nine innings, from one more than Lara, was only one more than Lara. His top score was 43 not out and he became not only captain of Pakistan but also one of the world's best batsmen Atherton, also in 1988, scored 197 runs with a top score of 80 and an average of 24.62, he became a good Test batsman and the captain of England. An Jayasuriya, also in 1988, scored only 70 runs with a top score of 53 and an average of 14.00, he became one of the greatest, one of the most exciting batsmen the world has ever seen, and also captain of Sri Lanka.