For all its tradition, Sabina Park has a humble way about it that makes you feel comfortable when you enter the ground but never lets you forget the legend that surrounds it.
Near the outside corner of the stand named after him, there is Jamaica's famous son George Headley in his follow through after pulling a sure boundary, greeting every newcomer. The man named 'Black Bradman' for his sensational run aggregate, was West Indies cricket's superstar during its early days and how fitting it is to see his figure playing a truly West Indian shot with all the Calypso glory.
Opposite the George Headley stand, which is a grey multi-storied complex housing the players' enclosure and offices of the local
cricket authority, is the media centre and VIP boxes and the view from up there is as good as it can get.
The ground is partly oval, partly square with a fast outfield although the pitch at present is a total contradiction of its historic reputation of being a pace paradise. Square of the wicket on the right, if you are looking from the press box, is the Kingston Cricket Club and consider it a crime not to go there for a drink after an absorbing day's cricket. And the food available at the club is also a big attraction. On match days, a person from the club would come up to the press box and take lunch orders from the working journalists. A major draw is Jamaica's own curry goat (you'll have a better idea ofwhat it is ifyou shuffle the last two words).
The Kingston Club owns the Sabina Park and every time you go there, you'll find members and visitors locked in some animated and often heated discussion on cricket. On Thursday afternoon the topic was Bangladesh's innings declaration in the first Test and how humiliating it was for the West Indies. On Friday it was whether Sachin Tendulkar was the greatest batsman in the world and how many days the second Test was going to last.
Amidst everything, you understand the passion for cricket. Everyone has an opinion of the game. The hotel staff, the taxi drivers, the attendants at the ground, the passer-by at the street corner whom you've just met, shopkeepers, everybody talks about cricket and their observations have substance on most occasions.
One thing is for sure, no one is happy with the way West Indies cricket is going at the moment and you feel that mood from smaller islands to the big ones.
In Barbados, cricket is religion.
Every restaurant, hotel and pub has some sort of cricket memorabilia and they even have a limitededition commemorative rum named after Sir Gary Sobers. At the Grantley Adams Airport, passengers gave inquisitive looks as they saw a couple of Bangladeshi journalists being surrounded by three on-duty security men. Had they come closer, they could have heard the effervescent Francis explaining the formula to beat the West Indies.
"I want the Bangladesh team to win and I tell you they can win in Jamaica. I had just told Sanjay Manjrekar that," said Francis who is disillusioned with the current crop.
But no matter how much they respect Bangladesh's fighting qualities and are furious with their own game, the ecstasy at the fall of every wicket for the visitors and every boundary hit by a home player is a reminder that the heart is where the result is. The game lives here through thick and thin.