They’re back!

It was a welcome departure from the mindless batting circus where 300 plus totals are the norm and a no-contest for the bowlers; no fanatic crowds waving placards of fours and sixes. And yet it was the finest one-day match of the year — a contest between bat and ball where the match was won by a bowler with a bat in hand.

The two batsmen — wicket-keeper Courtney Browne and left-arm seamer Ian Bradshaw — batted with the most basic belief in sport of never giving up and West Indies cricket came alive yet again.

Eigh wickets down with 147 on the board, chasing 218 for a win and the Windies flags were in the bags and we-knew-it talks amongst the Caribbean supporters pointed towards another boring one-sided game. Until Browne and Bradshaw put together a bizarre ninth-wicket partnership of 71 runs on paper but worth much more for West Indian cricket that pulled the carpet from under the English players. Quietly confident Browne and Bradshaw played out the two English fast bowlers Steve Harmison and Andy Flintoff before taking on the other English bowlers.

Coach Duncan Fletcher’s English Bubble has finally been pricked. On the eve of the game, West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan told The Indian Express: ‘‘The England side has been very upbeat through the summer but I think their over confidence will be their downfall.’’

Speaking with a touch of prophecy, Sarwan said, ‘‘I just hope that a win in the final could be the foundation of something special to come and we can work on it and build it up.’’

And the body language of the English players with eight Windies wickets in the bag seemed intact but probably they relaxed a tad too soon. The rejuvenated Caribbean team, having won the second most prestigious limited overs tournament, has set a new world order.

Man of the match Ian Bradshaw began the show for West Indies picking the first two wickets of Vikram Solanki and skipper Vaughan and ended the match in West Indies’s favour with a boundary that had the stamp of Caribbean flair written all over it.

The English enigma continues though skipper Michael Vaughan should thank his opener Marcus Trescothick to have helped the score go beyond 200. Digging in deep to carve a century under conditions that were anything but suitable for batting, Trescothick produced one of his finest centuries but as is his record with centuries England yet again lost the match.

The pitch was regularly juiced up by the drizzle; the cloud cover stalked the game and the West Indian seamers were curling the ball like a comma. Trescothick despite losing partners stuck to his game plan, pulling and cutting the ball to the boundary in the first 15 overs; dealing in ones and twos between the 16th and the 40th overs before unleashing yet again in the slog overs.

Other than him and Ashley Giles, none of the English batsmen stood up to the challenge of batting in conditions that were nothing, if not familiar to them. The England team just lacked the character for the big occasion and wasted a chance that could have helped English cricket make greater forays into the country.

The West Indies will be a nation delighted with the win and will use the confidence of winning the mini-World Cup in 2007 when they host the World Cup. The tournament could not have had a better end.

Brief scores

England: 217 (M Trescothick 104, A Giles 31, Bradshaw 2/54, Collymore W Hinds 3/24) lost to West Indies: 218/7 (C Gayle 23, S Chanderpaul 47, C Browne n.o. 35, I Bradshaw n.o. 34, Harmison 2/34, Flintoff 3/38, Collingwood 2/22).