Port-of-Spain: The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the local administration chose to treat the fourth ODI as a “dress rehearsal” for next year’s World Cup. The exercise, though, couldn’t have begun on a more discouraging note ? there was no power at the Queen’s Park Oval for the first 30-odd minutes.

There was, of course, no comment from anybody on the fiasco. All that a WICB spokesman told The Telegraph is that “the telecast wasn’t affected.” The production companies don’t rely on local power providers.

Meanwhile, West Indies captain Brian Lara bagged the First Citizens’ sponsored Player of the Year award for the third time in succession. In fact, he has been the only winner since it got instituted by the West Indies Players’ Association. Lara also took home (to Knaggs Hill here) the Test Player of the Year award.

While Ian Bradshaw got the ODI Player of the Year award, the one for the Emerging Player went to Denesh Ramdin. Ramnaresh Sarwan got the First Class Cricketer of the Year award.