Appleton Mound - nice like a pie

It was 'nice like a pie'. Well, that's how Chris Gayle felt about the way West Indies batsmen were enjoying themselves against the Indian bowlers at Sabina Park last Thursday.

Gayle, the out-of-favour West Indies master batsman, had chosen the vantage point of the liquor-drenched, food-flowing Appleton Mound to enjoy the game.

And though not revelling to the intoxicating music on the party sand like the hundreds of other fans, Gayle was not his usual laid-back self. He shouted instructions to his former team-mates and frequently saluted the Indian cricketers with shouts of "saba-saba".

Though standing out in his shocking-colour green outfit, the former West Indies captain was not the hit on the Mound. Instead, it was the Appleton and its compatriots who combined to keep patrons rocking.

Many patrons were not in the mood to let what's in their cups stay in their cups. Rather, they directed it to their guts and although an umpire would have given them out, they never spilled.

But it was not just music, food, drinks and celebrities that ensure the mound experience was as hot as the midsummer sun. Bikini- and shorts-clad ladies who frequented the cozy pool made it difficult for Mound maniacs to focus on the cricket field.

- Daraine Luton