ROLL on the third Test, LOL! Test cricket is alive and well; West Indies are awake and kicking. Tears of joy, Brian Lara, tears of joy. I always had faith in the West Indies-we turned up the heat just like the good old days.

Say what you want, we drew a series against Australia in Australia! The team deserves credit. Praise them when they get it right. Nobody gave them a prayer-except yours truly of Chaguanas, everybody else wrote them off. What a player, Shamar Joseph: we’ve found a black Guyanese diamond who delivers out-of-this-world performance with bat and ball.

West Indies needs more Test matches; you could see the Australians’ faces after the matchthey were stunned. I suggest former players and commentators start calling the West Indies ‘third world’, ‘weak’, ‘pathetic’ and ‘hopeless’ a lot more often, because that seems to be the magic charm.

The West Indies have enough talent hiding in these islands who want their opportunity to represent their country. Cricket runs in our veins; we’ve got to believe that we can put any opposition to the sword. Because that has been the problem, our mentality. We’ve got to think like champions to play like champions.

Desmond Haynes deserves a pat on the back. He now reserves the right to bawl and scream ‘I told you so’. The same with the rest of Andrew Coley’s coaching staff.

West Indies must build on this; big up the U19 boys as well, like I said, West Indies always turn up against England. West Indies now go on to ODIs and T20s and it’s about time West Indies win a series against these lot Down Under. We can beat the World ODI Champions, and we’ve got enough firepower in the T20 locker to blow them sky high.

Rally ’round the West Indies today, tomorrow, next week, the following week, the week after, forever!

Kendell Karan Chaguanas