By Tony Becca - On The Boundary 
EVERY NOW and again someone turns up with an innings of such brilliance that it is unforgettable and Marlon Samuels did just that with a cameo performance against India in the decisive seventh and final match of the one-day series.
It was a scintillating display, it launched the West Indies into a winning position and, coupled with the earlier performances of Christopher Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, as far as West Indies batting is concerned, it left the fans thinking of a glorious tomorrow and believing that victory in next year's World Cup in South Africa is possible.
There was, however, one other performance on that memorable day that augurs well for the future of West Indies cricket. It was the bowling of Jermaine Lawson.
In a magnificent display of fast bowling, Lawson removed India's first four batsmen - including top guns Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid - to leave them struggling at 67 for four and from there on, it was easy pickings for the West Indies.
The performance of Lawson has not had the same effect on the fans as Samuels' has had however - and the reason is simple.
The reason is that while the other batsmen did well after the second Test of the three-match Test series, the West Indies bowlers continued to be easy pickings for India's batsmen and the reason for that is also simple.
The reason is that the selectors, the same ones who have gone for young talent as far as the batsmen are concerned, have, for some inexplicable reason, stuck to older fast bowlers - including injured ones - who were never that good, who have been afforded every opportunity to prove themselves but who have not done so and who do not look like doing so.
Lawson's performance, however, must have embarrassed the selectors, and hopefully it will be a lesson to them.
The selectors should be embarrassed because they were the ones who, in ignoring the youngster's speed, skill, potential and impressive performance during the Test series, sent him home after the Test series, kept the injured Cameron Cuffy for the one-day internationals and called in Vasbert Drakes and Corey Collymore.
The lesson should be that it is better to invest in talented young fast bowlers rather than older, average medium-paced bowlers or bowlers who, by their continued non-performance, their inconsistency in line and length, have demonstrated time and time again that they do not possess neither the skill nor the capacity to perform at the highest level.
But for a few deliveries from Mervyn Dillon and Pedro Collins during the Test series, the only bowlers who forced the Indian batsmen to hurry their strokes were Lawson and Daren Powell.
It was the pace of Lawson that cut down dangerman Sehwag and handed the West Indies an early wicket in the seventh one-day international, it was the pace of Lawson that removed Laxman and handed the West Indies their second wicket, it was a well-pitched yorker from Lawson that shattered Dinesh Mongia's stumps and, if the lesson is learnt, if the West Indies hope to do well in the World Cup, they should be looking at Lawson and Powell to team up with Dillon and Collins.
They certainly should not be looking at Cuffy who is not bowling well and who seems to be always injured and they should not be looking at Drakes who, as his record in the past two seasons in South Africa and England and for the West Indies confirms, is no better than an average player.
The West Indies are now in Bangladesh, the three-match one-day series and the two-match Test series is the last official assignment before the World Cup and the selectors should show that they have learnt their lesson by using the occasion to prepare Lawson and Powell - their two young fast bowlers who possess the pace and the aggression to make batsmen uncomfortable on the pitches in South Africa.
