It is great news about Simon Jones, that he is going to the West Indies. And it is a wonderful story that he is going there 36 years after his father, Jeff, was part of the last English side to triumph there.

But.... I am worried. I am worried about all the hype that seems to surround his every movement these days. He is being hailed as the great white hope, the man to turn England's seam attack around.

There is a lot of pressure being heaped upon his shoulders, broad though they may be. And what is being conveniently forgotten is how inexperienced he is.

I looked at his first class record the other day; he has only played in 43 first class matches, taking 111 wickets at an average of 34.46. And this next statistic is the one which startled me most- he has only played in seven one day matches. Seven!

I suppose that I should take some of the blame for this because I obviously did not pick him too often when I was captain - and often with good reason because there were far more reliable alternatives. But it is a telling number. It tells us that Simon is just a pup when it comes to top level cricket.

He has played in just one and a half Test matches - an international career cruelly halted by that horrific knee injury in Brisbane in November 2002 - and people obviously liked what they saw in that short time. They saw a young pace bowler with genuine pace, one bursting with raw potential, and a batsman who, with an uncomplicated nonchalance which belied his previous pedigree in that department, belted the Indian bowlers all around Lord's on his first appearance there.

He immediately looked to the manner born. And that excited everyone.

But he has only taken five Test wickets. And that should not be forgotten. And I sincerely hope that Simon does not go the same way as another much-hyped Welsh fast bowler, the tearaway from Trebanos, Greg Thomas, who went to the West Indies in 1986 and after a promising start was carted to all parts by the rampant West Indian batsmen.

I'm sure Simon won't but, as I have said, I do fret that there is too much expectation. He did exceptionally well at the start of his trip in India but his figures in the second innings of that desperately disappointing defeat this week were damning - 13.5-0-89-0.

I just hope that if Simon has a bad day like that early in the Caribbean that the Press do not crucify him.

It should also be remembered that the wickets in the Caribbean are not as quick as they used to be; more uneven than fliers.

They might not necessarily suit Simon. Angus Fraser, with his nagging fast medium pacers, has been England's most successful bowler on recent tours. Simon will have bad days for sure; he is still callow. But he must be left to develop.

Having said all that England, who left yesterday without Simon - he will join them later this week - will not have had a better chance of toppling the West Indians on their home soil since that time back in 1967-68. The Calypso kids are no longer the force they were. But there is one man who can make one hell of a difference; one man who can almost win a game off his own bat. And that is Brian Charles Lara.

And he quite likes playing against England (he averages 75 against them on home soil). He might even be a little miffed that some big Australian chap called Matthew Hayden has pinched his world record which he scored against England. Let's hope not.

I watched the recent South Africa-West Indies series, which the Proteas won easily 3-0, with interest. It should have given England hope. At times the West Indies were a rabble, typified by some comical fielding and rumours of a rift between Lara and his chairman of selectors, Sir Vivian Richards, who picks the side; Lara apparently once going out to toss and changing the team he had been given when he got to the middle.

Their bowling looks threadbare and the good news is that even though Lara did score a stack of runs, his team still lost heavily. So maybe even he can't win game single-handedly for them now.

The West Indian batsmen look like typical West Indian batsmen - full of shots and uninhibited flair - but without the pure quality of their predecessors like Richards, Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge. I have mentioned Chris Gayle in these pages before; and he typifies that excitement which their batsmen possess, but also their inconsistency too.

And there is the precociously talented 21-year-old, Dwayne Smith, who made a 93-ball maiden century against the South Africans.

Whatever happens, I reckon we're in for one exciting series.