WELCOME sounds of summer are about to herald the cusp of winter and spring and I, for one, cannot wait.

The thwack of leather on willow, or maybe even on protective helmet, the lilt of the home commentary, the sighs of visitors' hopes, the whistles, the insistent, rhythmic beat of steel drums.

In less than 48 hours the four-match Test series between the West Indies and England opens at Sabina Park in Jamaica and what a collision the next four weeks promises to be.

For the first time in many a year England actually have a chance of sampling victory in the Caribbean. In more than 30 years of hurt - literally black and blue when the four pacemen of the epoch calypso of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Curtly Ambrose and Joel Garner were in their pumped-up pomp - the visitors have not revelled in a best in the West Test series since 1968.

It was a year in which the Beatles were together, albeit with more than a little help from their friends; Harold Wilson reigned as Prime Minister; money still changed hands in pounds, shillings and pence; and the moon was yet some way off being invaded by Americans clad in gravity-defying boots.

Back then England's dazzling men in white included skipper Colin Cowdrey, Colin Milburn, Ken Barrington - all since passed on to the great pavilion in the sky. Now is the chance for their successors to make their own mark and post a prized place in cricketing history.

Clashes between the Caribbean's finest and that of England have a special place in the affections of the cricket aficionado with the heart warmed yet more when the duo tussle amid the heat and dust of West Indies tracks where deliveries fizz like missiles.

After the Sabina Park opener, the schedule takes in meetings at Port of Spain in Trinidad, Bridgetown in Barbados, and finally St John's in Antigua. And all to be played out amid a five-week backdrop when the game's global interest will be at its zenith. For at the same time world number one rulers Australia visit Sri Lanka, upcoming New Zealand entertain South Africa, while potentially the most combustible Test tour pits Pakistan against arch-rivals India, who make the short hop across their beleaguered border.

Barring a World Cup there could hardly be a more keen crop of cricket fixtures, the close-to-call nature of which could spark a major shift in the world rankings.

For England the tour to the West Indies offers an even greater incentive. It used to be said that a strong England football team was mirrored by an equally potent domestic game. With so many non-Englishmen now plying their football trade in the Premiership the whistle has been blown on that adage.

But cricket's home-grown strength is at a watershed. The county game, if not yet moribund, is still drawing mainly modest crowds. And true enough, the issue of central contracts has denuded the domestic circuit of many of the Test stars, who capture the public's attention.

The Twenty20 competition brought an added dimension during its inaugural blaze last summer, but the game would enjoy an even higher profile if success can be garnered during the next month in a series where each of the rivals' strengths are minimised by their respective weaknesses.

England, under the leadership of Yorkshire's Michael Vaughan, have the chance to deliver the nation's international stock out of the doldrums and with it enhance the game back at home.

Bring it on.

SPORT, by its very erratic nature, can exasperate and inspire, infuriate and excite. But already we have the world's most predictable outcome: Michael Schumacher wins the first Grand Prix of 2004.

Unless the powers that be decide that true man Schu can only compete in alternate races or that his Ferrari should be made to tow a caravan, then Formula 1 should surely be re-named Yawnula 1. Zzzzzzz...

Updated: 09:21 Tuesday, March 09, 2004