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A few months ago, Ricardo Powell was just another young cricketer with nothing but a dream. A few days from now, the 20-year-old batsman will be in England as a member of the West Indies team challenging for the World Cup.

If it sounds like a fairytale, that's what it is.

In 1998, Powell represented a short-staffed Jamaica team in the regional four-day tournament, and after failing to distinguish himself, after looking out of his depth, he was dropped after one match.

This season, he failed to get into the team for the first three matches and was only selected, it appeared, when the younger Christopher Gayle took ill and had to be replaced.

That, apparently, was all he wanted. It was an opportunity and he grabbed it with both hands.

After a brilliant performance in the field against the Windward Islands at Alpart, Powell went to bat with Jamaica on 34 for four, he drove fast bowler Cameron Cuffy through extra-cover to get off the mar, and although he scored only 23 runs, he batted well and confidently on a dicey pitch, he demonstrated a maturity in an innings which lasted for 99 minutes and he reeled off two other impressive boundary strokes - an ondrive off pacer McNeil Morgan and a drive through extra-cover off pacer Casper Davis.

That was just a sample of a precocious talent.

In the following match against Barbados at Kensington Oval, he arrived on the scene with Jamaica struggling at three for three and slammed 80 (two sixes and 11 fours) off 119 deliveries and in his next outing, also against Barbados at Kensington, he went to bat with Jamaica on 25 for three and blasted 114 not out (three sixes and 17 fours) off 118 deliveries.

After his second assault on the best of Barbados, cricket fans around the region welcomed Powell as a refreshing talent and the West Indies selectors responded by naming him to the West Indies Board XI and the West Indies A teams against Australia.

Powell failed to perform, but to many, including a number of those who should know, that did not matter.

To former greats like Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Everton Weekes who saw him in all his glory at Kensington Oval, the young Jamaican had done enough in the Busta Cup to suggest t he is someone special and in selecting him although he has never played in even one one-day international, the selectors, probably led by Joel Garner, obviously agree he is someone special.

In calling up young Powell, the selectors must have considered a few of those they have been grooming on the A team, and if they were putting together a Test team, they probably would have looked elsewhere - probably in the direction of Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan or Gayle.

The World Cup, however, is different, the player Powell has replaced is Carl Hooper and apart from being an explosive batsman, he is also a useful offspin bowler and a brilliant fielder.

There is nothing more refreshing than young talent on parade especially the kind of talent which promises exciting play and now that his dream has come true, now that his fairytale season has ended happily, the hope is that Ricardo Powell, the young gun who has been itching to get into action, will explode on the cricket fields of England.