Most spectacularly, Marlon Samuels took out the frustration of two years suspension for his links to an alleged Indian bookmaker on Guyana with an unbeaten 250 for Jamaica.
Also the leading scorer in the preceding Caribbean Twenty20, his return to the West Indies team is taken for granted in some quarters, mostly in Caribbean cricket’s largest, northernmost island.
Yet consistency over the remainder of the tournament, never his strongest point, is what is likely to determine his immediate future at the age of 30.
Ryan Hinds, the Barbados captain and left-handed all-rounder who turns 30 next week, started his 13th season with scores of 94 and 135 and a marathon 42 overs of steady spin.
Runako Morton, 32, marked his transfer from the Leeward Islands to Trinidad and Tobago in his 15th season with 86 against Barbados.
Denesh Ramdin, in his eighth year yet still only 26, has early scores of 86 and a record seven catches in an innings to back his claims to the place he has lost in the West Indies team.
Dave Mohammed, 31 with his fleeting Test career surely at an end, keeps on twirling his chinamen and googlies in his 11th season, snaring four wickets in his first match for Trinidad and Tobago against Barbados at Guaracara Park.
Rayad Emrit, 29, who had a sniff at international cricket in ODIs in India in 2007, restated his all-round potential with his unbeaten 97 against Barbados, followed by three first innings wickets in the current second match against the CCC.
Odean Brown, 29, the most consistently successful leg-spinner in the regional game (163 wickets at 22.5 each), collected eight Guyanese victims in Jamaica’s first round victory.
So nothing new or particularly revealing there.
What is encouraging have been the performances of the young brigade, specifically Kirk Edwards and Kraigg Brathwaite, Keiron Powell, Shamarh Brooks, Shannon Gabriel and Brandon Bess.
They have demonstrated the value of the increased international exposure for the ‘A’ team and the work at the Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC) in Barbados over the past nine months.
Edwards was already on the selectors books. His runs on the ‘A’ tour of Bangladesh, Ireland and England last year earned him a place to the main West Indies team for the ODIs in Sri Lanka last December.
The weather that forced the postponement of the series meant he didn’t have chance to even strap on his pads and he was, predictably, the one to make way on the recall of Ramnaresh Sarwan for the return to Sri Lanka and the following World Cup.
The strongly built right-hander might not see it that way but it was a blessing in disguise and he has made the most of it – 93 and 42 for Barbados against Trinidad and Tobago, 171 against the England Lions.
There is a long way to go yet but he has the form and, above all, the confidence to keep piling up the runs.
He has come at No. 3 for Barbados with opener Brathwaite settled in a comfortable, relaxed way that is the hallmark of the best players.
Brathwaite is only 18. His unbeaten 102 against Trinidad and Tobago followed his 130 against Pakistan ‘A’ last November as his second first-class hundred but it was his 48th at all levels, a phenomenal statistic.
Before he was deceived by a slower ball and tapped a return catch to Justin Dernbach against the Lions on Friday, he was in such control another seemed on the way.
There is already talk in some quarters in Barbados of Test selection but time is on his side, time to gain strength and experience. He need not be rushed.
Powell was Brathwaite’s opening partner in last November’s series against Pakistan ‘A’. They were an ideal match, the former a tall, well-built left-hander keen to play his shots, Brathwaite, right-handed, slimmer and more cautious.
Powell’s first-class debut, aged 18, instantly stamped his potential – 85 and 99 against the CCC in his native Nevis – but he subsequently stalled.
He has returned to the runs following his stint at the HPC. His 50 and 99 in two innings against Pakistan ‘A’ hinted at a revival, his 133 for the otherwise woeful Leewards against the Lions in the opening match of 2011 confirmed it.
Brooks was the West Indies captain to the under-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2008. He had already played for the Barbados senior team, primarily as an elegant, high-order batsman who trundled useful leg-spin.
He is one of 15 in the first intake at the HPC, leading the team on its successful trip to Toronto and in the regional 50-overs tournament last year.
In the opening 2011 match against Trinidad and Tobago his bowling was his main role but it was his unbeaten 61 that caught the eye of knowledgeable commentators who rated it the classiest batting of the match.
If he does develop as the quality batsman/leg-spinner any believe to be within his capacity, it would guarantee him a long term future in the Test team. His progress in the remainder of the season will be closely monitored.
With Darren Bravo already in the senior team and showing all the signs of becoming the next celebrated West Indies batsman, such batting promise hints at genuine strength in the near future.
The fast bowling stocks are what need replenishing more.
Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards are only now back playing and the extent of the injuries that eliminated them for so long cannot yet he properly assessed.
Their absence has placed heavy responsibility on Kemar Roach who, in 10 Tests, has already shared the new ball with six partners (Tino Best, Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Brandon Bess, Andre Russell and Darren Sammy). In the circumstances, the progress of Gabriel and Bess since they have been at the HPC is heartening.
Both have good pace. Unlike Roach and other recent quicks, both enjoy the advantage of height and, Gabriel’s case, a strapping physique. Jason Holder, their 18-year-old HPC colleague, is short of their 90 mph but, at six feet, seven inches, is another capable of steep bounce.
Given the prolonged period of despair through which West Indies cricket has passed over the past decade, it may be misplaced optimism to read too much into a few isolated performances this early in the piec. But I think not.
Indeed, it has been some time since West Indies stocks seemed so hopeful.
