India could have tried to win in 50 overs, which would have eased their embarrassment but would have been insufficient to allow them to qualify on net run rate, or they could have attempted to win in 45 overs, which would have pushed their rate ahead of that of West Indies and Pakistan.

The upshot is inconvenient for the organisers of the tournament and the television company beaming it to most parts of Asia, because cricket in the United Arab Emirates revolves around India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

In the absence of the holders of the World Cup, Sri Lanka, it was the other two subcontinental countries who should have reached the final, according to the script.

Adam Hollioake and his genuinely merry men had already spoiled that plan before Courtney Walsh, the most inscrutable international captain since Bob Willis, supervised a performance in the field which made clever use of the unusual conditions.

They had to be unusual for a West Indian side to have won without a single wicket for a fast bowler, but eight for spin bowlers.

It was the coach, Malcolm Marshall, who first thought of persuading the Grenadan leg-spinner Rawl Lewis to bowl round the wicket into the rough in their first match against Pakistan.

Lewis is quite a big spinner of the ball, more accurate than most of his kind, and for right-handers to score quickly against balls pitching a foot outside leg-stump and turning towards the off is almost impossible.

Lewis bowled his 10 overs very effectively against the top Indian batsmen and then, crucially, ran out Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin within three overs, the 30th and 32nd, to put paid to India's realistic chance. Tendulkar did not come in until the 30th over, which, again, was poor use of a rich resource.

Typical of cricket, it was Shivnarine Chanderpaul, bowling very much less accurate and also less venemous leg-breaks round the wicket, who picked up the more eye-catching analysis.

Meanwhile, sidling in sinuously and enjoying the rare pleasure of bowling on a turning pitch against batsmen obliged to take risks, Carl Hooper deserved his figures of four for 37. He batted well again, too.

The official man of the match was Stuart Williams and since yesterday's was his first one-day international hundred and it came at the end of a largely unproductive tour of Pakistan, it was good to see him have his share of the glory.

He is an engaging batsman to watch, one of the old-fashioned West Indian stylists, and he timed the ball remarkably well off the back foot, mainly through the offside, reaching three figures in the final over of an innings he had anchored sensibly. He was helped by a quick burst from Brian Lara, who took 14 off Anil Kumble's first over, including a one-handed six as the ball stopped but his bat carried on through the line. Having made 23 off 20 balls, however, he clipped off his legs in the air to midwicket - permissible in these circumstances.

Lara was the only West Indian to score at quicker than a run a ball on a pitch still as bare, black and polished as a rock face. There have now been six matches in as many days on two neighbouring pitches and, apart from getting slower, they could no doubt go on holding one-day matches here until next April if they wanted to.

That, incidentally, is when Sharjah next stages a tournament, with the ICC's show to come later in the year.

The 'new' Indian wicketkeeper, Saba Karim, managed to score at better than a run a ball (26 off 22), but by the time that this unusually calm and clearly very accomplished cricketer came in, having lost his place as pinch-hitter to Navjot Sidhu, India needed eight an over and the game was up.

Sidhu himself had needed 43 balls - and as many as 20 overs for his 25, but so long as the insouciant Saurav Ganguly was playing clean and flowing strokes straight and through the off-side, there was a chance of his satisfying the yearning supporters in another substantial crowd.

Finally, in the 30th over, Ganguly came down the pitch to drive Hooper through the covers, the ball turned and David Williams, who is looking an increasingly good choice, made a slick stumping.

Now the West Indies, all smiles again, have a kind of dress rehearsal for the main show against England in the new year.