Don't bother trying to stop us even if you have heard this one nine times before: King Charles is likely to open the batting for West Indies in their men's T20I series against South Africa that starts in Kingston on Thursday. And to familiarize themselves with the conditions that will prevail for most of the tournament.
Spare a thought then for players who are not in the IPL spotlight nor primed to step onto the T20 World Cup stage. For them this series is no joke. Brandon King that is and Johnson Charles. They've opened in nine of the 14 instances they've batted together in both kinds of white-ball internationals. So why not again in a rubber that is stuck between the rock of the ongoing IPL and the hard place of the impending T20 World Cup?
The series is made for that kind of joke. Here's another: what do you get when two stand-in captains lead their teams at a ground the T20 World Cup won't visit? You get King Dussen and Sabina Park. Still another: what do you call players who are in the West Indies and South Africa squads for the series but haven't cracked the provisional nod for the T20 World Cup?
You call them on Saturday because that's when the T20 World Cup squads will be finalised. We said there was room for jokes. We didn't say they would be funny. Please see below for the players who are not in action in Jamaica largely thanks to the IPL. Among them are much of the cream of these two crops.
Which is hardly surprising considering the Indian tournament is the most important in the world of T20 cricket. Yes that does take into account the T20 World Cup. So with Sunday's IPL final bearing down on us like an approaching avalanche of mostly sixes this series could be swept from memory even before it ends.
But it will never be forgotten by King and Van der Dussen who haven't captained any of their senior national teams before. Fabian Allen Alick Athanaze Matthew Forde Kyle Mayers Hayden Walsh Van der Dussen Matthew Breetzke Wiaan Mulder Lungi Ngidi and Nqaba Peter meanwhile will know Friday's game is their last chance to sneak into the T20 World Cup.
It's a long shot. Both camps would be loathe to make changes with the tournament starting seven days after the series ends but it's the only shot those players have. Those already bound for the T20 World Cup will see the rubber as a chance to tighten whatever nuts and bolts are not yet secure.
What to expect: Thunderstorms have been forecast for all four days of the series' duration but shouldn't get in the way of the cricket too much. The six men's T20Is played at this ground have yielded a century and three 50s and a four-wicket haul and seven of three wickets - four of them by seamers. That would suggest it's a bowler's venue.