You knew the game was up yesterday when, shortly after noon, his excellency Brian Lara emerged from the Queens Park Cricket Club pavilion and embarked on a grand promenade round the outfield. A stop in front of the Trini Posse Stand to receive a presentation, another before the Cyril Duprey Stand for more gladhanding, an autograph here, a wave there. It was royalty.
These two matches were to have completed Lara's triumphal homecoming. But on Saturday, as the clouds gathered, he opted for the sanctuary of the dressing room and further protection for his injured finger by dropping down the order (thereby ensuring Ramnaresh Sarwan was accorded the biggest reception of his career). If he was going to have a parade no one was going to rain on it.
While everyone showed willing and said the right things, the reality was the torrents which drowned out Saturday's match had done far too much damage for there to be much prospect of play. But while Lara was completing his circuit, the showers that had been threatening resumed, the covers were dragged on once more and that, effectively, was that. The cut-off point for a 25-over-a-side match, 1.45pm, was never a realistic proposition and play was abandoned at 12.40. The teams now travel to Grenada today for the fourth match on Wednesday. Just for the record, it has been raining on the Spice Island for a week.
This winter has been cruel for England's learning curve has gone in this form of cricket. The three matches in Bangladesh followed a familiar pattern of local underachievement and carnage with the bat of Andy Flintoff, and the single game in Sri Lanka resulted in a 10-wicket defeat. Since then they have endured three washouts, Saturday's game that barely got going and the 30 overs-a-side match in Georgetown a week ago. That makes 376 overs of competitive cricket out of a possible 900, with 76 from 300 on this tour.
Already there are fingers pointing at the prospect of a damaged World Cup, due to be staged in the Caribbean during April and May three years hence. It would be wrong to blame scheduling though: this does indeed seem to be unseasonal rain.
Since the millennium and before this weekend, West Indies had staged 30 one-day internationals with just a single washout (in Kingston two years ago) and only five other games decided under Duckworth/Lewis. That hardly constitutes a case for the prosecution.
Saturday did see the return of James Anderson, with James Kirtley's inclusion in the first game rationalised as him being a better "death" bowler for a shortened match. If Anderson looked rusty it is understandable, not helped by a greasy ball. Still, his fourth ball produced a wicket when Chris Gayle spanked a rank long-hop to Paul Collingwood at point. The bowler looked suitably contrite but the magic seems to be intact.