Practice pitches curtail Barbados' Carib cup preparations

Vincentian cricket authorities have got to come better if they are serious about hosting first-class matches.

Barbados' last-minute preparations for their first-round Carib Beer Series, against the Windward Islands starting today, took a backward step over the last two days because of their inability to have a meaningful practice session.

The two pitches reserved for net sessions at Arnos Vale Playing Field were in atrocious condition and coach Hendy Springer restricted his team to physical and fielding drills.

"The surfaces should have been a lot better. This is one of the shortcomings in the West Indies," Springer told WEEKENDSPORT after yesterday's final warm-up.

"We've got many senior grounds that do not have proper practice facilities. Unfortunately, this is another one of those grounds."

The practice pitches here are not on the ground itself, but about 100 yards to the west and next to an adjoining hard court.

Both strips contained a half that was full of grass and the other half was dry and riddled with cracks. In short, you were asking for trouble. It simply wasn't safe, although the Windwards might not have thought so. They went ahead and used them.

"The pitches were not good enough for the guys to practise. We thought they were a bit impaired and we decided not to take that risk," Springer said.

"It is a disappointment. But as a team coming from Barbados, we've had a couple of weeks of match practice and general practice and we should go pretty well."

Barbados came into St Vincent on Wednesday morning, but might have been better off if they had remained home for an additional 24 hours.

"We could have, but I've got no problem with coming early and familiarising ourselves with the conditions," Springer said.

They would have had ample time yesterday and Wednesday to get accustomed to the outfield on a ground that is nicely sandwiched between the E.T. Joshua Airport and the Caribbean Sea.

As they went through their drills, the pitch in the middle seemed dry and it was full of grass. Throughout the afternoon, however, it was rolled and the grass was shaved off.

Barbados have a score to settle with the Windwards, a side whose record in the last decade emphasises why they have long been branded the whipping boys of regional cricket.

After a string of defeats, Rawl Lewis' men won comfortably against Barbados at Kensington last season in spite of Courtney Browne's scintillating 161.

"I've got a lot of respect for all the teams that we're going to meet this year," Springer said. "The Windwards beat us last year and beat us really well. They've got some good players and I'm sure they will be looking to repeat it. However, we'll be looking to treat them with more respect this time and not take them for granted."

The Windwards have been dealt a hard blow by the late withdrawals of fast bowlers Cameron Cuffy and Fernix Thomas, whose places have been taken by the inexperienced pair of Darren Sammy and Othneil Baptiste.