Indian cricketer Munaf Patel bowls the first over on the first day of the third test between West Indies and India at the Warner Park stadium in St Kitts 22 June 2006. AFP PHOTO/ Indranil MUKHERJEE

Welcomed by a joyful chorus of jazzy trumpets and a thumping base beat from boom boxes in a boisterous crowd, Indian pace bowler Munaf Patel sent down the historic first ball to West Indies opener Chris Gayle.

The delivery was worth far more than the leg bye it produced to kick-start the home side's innings -- it represented another thread in an economic lifeline for a nation washed up by the retreating tide of global trade.

"It's really, really special. We have never had a Test Match on St Kitts before, we have only seen Tests on TV, so it's so special," said local fan Nigel Williams, before hoisting his trumpet to join his calypso band mates to celebrate a straight drive for six from Gayle.

The 34,000 people who live in the federation of St Kitts and Nevis, in the Leeward Islands, could all fit inside many of the larger world cricket stadiums - and even have three seats each at the cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Their intimate 8,000 seater Warner Park stadium is a bet on their future -- based on tourism, after the island's centuries-old sugar cane industry folded after years of savage losses last year.

"This puts us on the international cricket map," said Charles Wilkin, who heads the St Kitts organising committee for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, when Australia, South Africa, the Netherlands and Scotland will come to town.

More importantly, this third West Indies v India Test, a one-day international, also against India earlier this year and the World Cup, represent a desperately-needed source of tourism dollars.

The sugar cane industry succumbed to massive losses brought on by tumbling prices, mass production in other nations and the vagaries of global free trade rules which accounted for its preferred access to British markets.

"(Cricket) is critical for our reputation ... we are now moving towards the sports tourism business," said Wilkin.

St Kitts officials are banking on a stream of supporters from competing nations, who will stay in hotels on St Kitts and its sister island of Nevis, and pour money into local bars and restaurants during World Cup group matches next year.

They also hope their share of a likely billion or so World Cup television viewers will draw future tourists to the island -- which has a six-point tourism plan, to improve infrastructure, hotels, golf courses and attractions.

Warner Park, nestling between craggly Bird Rock, and a couple of well-timed straight drives from the Caribbean Sea, has been completely refashioned from the island's fertile volcanic soil for the World Cup.

The ground has already hosted a pre-season tour by English county side Lancashire and, post-World Cup, officials have an eye on plucking more Tests and one-day internationals from the crowded international cricket calendar.

Covered stands at each end of the ground and grassy banks square of the wicket will be augmented by temporary stands to boost capacity to 10,000 or so at the World Cup.

The rebuilding effort won an endorsement from West Indies skipper Brian Lara.

"It's a great stadium, I played here something like 17 years ago and what I saw 17 years ago and what I saw for the one day and now for the Test match is a great improvement, it's very special," said Lara.

A victory for the West Indies, which is taking big-time cricket to a clutch of new venues in the Caribbean, would be another shot in the arm for a game which has seen its popularity fall away somewhat from its 1980s heydey.

Squeezed by National Basketball Association (NBA) telecasts from the United States, and now World Cup soccer, cricket no longer has the field to itself in the West Indies -- a status not helped by its team's recent struggles.

"I am sure, if the team starts to win people will start coming back to the games, all over the West Indies," said Williams, as he waited to celebrate another boundary on the grassy bank at deep square leg.