Batsman's Pitch

Bryan Davis has an encouraging prognosis for batsmen two days before the second Cable & Wireless Test between the West Indies and South Africa at the Queen's Park Oval.

The former West Indies opening batsman, now cricket manager at Queen's Park Cricket Club and responsible for ground preparation, expects the 50th Test played on the ground to be a batsman's match.

It is a bold forecast. No team has managed to total 300 there since 1998 in four Tests involving the West Indies and England, Australia and Zimbabwe. The West Indies were toppled by Australia in 1999 for 51, their lowest Test total, and Zimbabwe collapsed for 63 last year requiring 99.

Australian Michael Slater, 106, and Zimbabwean Andy Flower, 116, were the only century-makers in that time. The West Indies have to go back to Stuart Williams' 128 against India in 1997 to find one although their new captain, Carl Hooper, was unbeaten 94 when victory was achieved over England in 1998.

Davis bases his confidence that things will be different on a few factors. We've purchased a mechanical heavy roller and have got in a lot more rolling (of the pitch) than in the past, he said. That has made it a lot more compact and harder.

It's covered with a nice growth of grass so that there will be more bounce, and more consistent bounce, than we normally get, he added. The ball will come on to the bat a lot more, the batsmen should be able to play their shots with certainty and the bowlers should be rewarded for effort.

I'm not saying it's going to be fast but it's certainly not going to be dead. An unbroken dry spell over the past two-and-a-half months has left the outfield hard and fast, another advantage for the batsmen.

Only two Busta Cup matches were staged at Queen's Park this season, the last between West Indies `B' and Guyana on January 26 to 29. The other was between Trinidad and Tobago and England `A'.

Guyana amassed 411 for nine declared, with 116 by Travis Dowlin and 98 by Hooper but none of the five other completed totals topped 250, so it is impossible to draw definite conclusions.

Davis explained that the prolonged dry weather had helped in preparation. Over the past few years, we had too much rain leading up to the Test, he said. It meant the water table was high and we weren't sure just how much watering to do.

We had to cover the pitch more than we wanted to so that it lacked heavy rolling, he noted. The result was that it was slow and the bounce was variable.

This year, the ground staff had no such problems. We've been able to put in a lot of work, we've had a chance to control the amount of moisture and we have compacted it with heavy rolling, Davis said.

If Davis' optimism is correct, it will be a change from the first Test where Bourda's hard, dry, grassless pitch demanded graft from both batsmen and bowlers and made for a hard-fought but featureless contest.

Both teams flew into Port-of-Spain yesterday. The West Indies had a 4 a.m. wake-up call for the 6 a.m. flight.

The South Africans left four hours later. Both used the day for rest and recreation, with practice resuming this morning in the Queen's Park nets.