Getting to the pitch

Carlisle Best wants the pitch at Kensington Oval dug up.

Coach Henderson Springer returns from Trinidad to report that, in Barbados Busta Cup match at the Queen's Park Oval, balls actually rolled around the ground at some stages and were squatting even from the first day.

Albert Smith, the Guyana coach, bemoans the flat, low surfaces his team had to contend with in the two home matches at Bourda and Albion and asks for something faster.

The Trinidadians, according to captain Richard Smith, were upset at the pace and steep bounce they had to contend with on the opening day of their match against Jamaica at the Alpart ground on Friday.

And so on and so forth.

It is a Caribbean theme as perennial, and as controversial, as calypsos at Kadooment.

Pitches are the centrepiece of the game, both literally and figuratively. They not only dictate the course of a particular match but fashion the style of the teams that play most regularly on them.

It explains, partially at least, why fast bowlers and stroke-makers tended to come from Barbados, Jamaica and Antigua, with their fast, true surfaces, fine batsmen from the run-producing environment of Guyana and spinners from the turning tracks of Trinidad.

A general change has occurred almost everywhere in the Caribbean (Anguilla seems to be the exception) and has gradually, but surely, altered the very character of West Indies cricket.

The lack of pace and inconsistency of bounce that has become a universal complaint are as good a reason as any why fast bowlers are now in such short supply, and batsmen find it difficult to stay long enough to amass big scores.

It is a problem accepted and recognised at all levels. It influenced the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) two years ago to initiate its annual seminar for groundsmen of all the main grounds and appoint Richard Prof Edwards as its main man is assessing and advising on pitch preparation. But it is not an exact science and solutions are not easily found.

The soil varies widely from territory to territory, even from ground to ground within an individual territory. So do the methods of preparation. The watering and rolling prescribed, say for Kensington Oval, differ from those at the Queen's Park Oval.

The most common recommended remedy is the straight-forward dig it up and there is no doubt every square needs to be periodically relaid. Repeated use inevitably kills the grass that binds the soil, ensures its firmness and prevents it flaking at the surface.

Several seem to have reached, and passed, that stage. Kensington is among them.

More cricket is played on the square there than ever before, especially since its resident club, Pickwick, has been obliged to practice in the middle on the International Cricket Council (ICC) directive banishing prepared pitches on the outfields of Test grounds.

It is showing unmistakeable signs of wear and tear and the time has come for the excavators to move in and for fresh soil to be inserted.

The process would need several months to complete but, with the Barbados club season overlapping with the regional and international season, the only way that could be done is if Pickwick could be provided with an alternative ground and club house for the duration.

It is a real dilemma.

However, an entirely renewed square always the answer.

Twice, in 1968 and more infamously 30 years later, they have got it so wrong at Jamaica's Sabina Park they have had to do it all over again.

The effect in 1998 was so disastrous that the Test against England was abandoned after 9.1 overs because it was palpably too dangerous, an unwelcome entry into the history books.

One of the many innovations of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket was the external pitch, specially prepared away from the ground in concrete trays and brought in by cranes to be laid in the middle prior to the season and taken back out at the end.

It was necessary because his tournament was initially confined to football grounds with no cricket facilities but it has been used more recently in both Australia and New Zealand, even for specific matches. They have even discussed its potential at Lord's.

But we're talking about the West Indies here where floodlights and comfortable seating remain a dream, even at the start of the 21st century. Imported pitches? Not likely.

Instead, we have to rely on the knowledge and dedication of the ground staff and the attention the WICB and member boards now appear more inclined to pay to such an essential aspect of the game.