When the Windies and India face off in the four match Digicel ODI Series in Jamaica and St Lucia several members of the two sides would have intimate information of each other’s overall game and individual strengths and weaknesses. It should make for a heightened viewing experience for us the fans.

The Indian Premier League is making the global cricketing village much smaller by the season and with each franchise allowed to play up to four overseas (meaning non-Indian) players in each game several West Indians made their way to South Africa for the 2009 edition of the IPL.

All told the services of four West Indians were utilized. Captain Chris Gayle, bought for a hefty US$800,000 provided the top order fireworks for the Shah Rukh Khan owned Kolkata Knight Riders after missing the first edition of the tournament due to injury.

A late pick by the Mumbai Indians in 2008, all rounder Dwayne Bravo so impressed that he became a regular member of that city side led by Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar. His price tag has not been disclosed but it has been rumoured to be in excess of US$500,000.

And the Barbadian pair of pacer Fidel Edwards and another all rounder Dwayne Smith were picked up by the Deccan Chargers.

Edwards and RP Singh now find themselves on opposite sides of the fence after sharing the new ball for Chargers, the eventual IPL 2009 winner. Pragyan Ojha, the left arm spinner and batsman Rohit Sharma were also Edwards’ teammate during his freshman IPL stint for the Hyderabad based Chargers whose captain is Adam Gilchrist, the retired Aussie wicketkeeper/batsman.

The other Singh in the Indian squad, Harbhajan, along with Abhishek Nayar and Bravo were also, a mere few weeks ago, fighting for the same Mumbai Indians cause. Bravo will also know left arm pacer Ashish Nehra quite well. Though Nehra played for Dehli Daredevils this year, in 2008 he played alongside Bravo for the Mumbai franchise.

And Gayle must have spent some time sizing up the latest Indian fast bowling phenom, Ishant in the nets as they practiced together for the ill fated Knight Riders which finished at the bottom of the points table.

When they played in the 2008 inaugural IPL, Guyanese middle order batting duo Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan were team mates with Praveen Kumar (Bangalore Royal Challengers) and Yuvraj Singh (Kings XI Punjab) respectively. Neither Chanderpaul nor Sarwan participated in the IPL 2009 but come 2010 both are likely to find themselves slotted into one or two franchises.

Jerome Taylor, the Jamaican pacer, was initially selected by the Kings XI Punjab but had to withdraw as a result of injury and was replaced by South African Yusuf Abdullah. He must surely be keen to make an impression particularly on the two IPL captains (Mahendra Singh Dhoni of Chennai Super Kings and Yuvraj of Kings XI Punjab) in order to ensure that come 2010 he has the handsome bonus of an IPL contract in his back pocket.