Sabina Park and Kensington Oval capture awards

Groundstaff at Sabina Park in Jamaica and Kensington Oval in Barbados have won the West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) prizes for preparing the best pitch and grounds in the Cable & Wireless Test and One-Day International series respectively.

For their outstanding efforts in preparing the best pitch and grounds for the Test series between the West Indies and South Africa, the groundstaff at Sabina Park will receive US$10,000 while their Kensington Oval counterparts will receive US$5,000 as the One-Day International prize.

In the Test series, Sabina Park was adjudged as having the best pitch and grounds with 76 points. Kensington Oval was second (73 points); the Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG), third (71); Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad, fourth (64) and Bourda in Guyana, fifth (60).

Kensington Oval topped the One-Day International pitches and grounds with 97 points while the Saturday pitch and grounds at Queen's Park in Grenada took second place with 92 points. Third was the ARG and Queen's Park in Grenada (Sunday) on 87 points, fifth was Sabina Park on 79 points, sixth was Queen's Park Oval on 73 points and seventh was Arnos Vale in St Vincent on 66 points.

"It was an extremely keen competition throughout the series. There was a lot of enthusiasm by groundstaff and we are pleased with the overall response from groundstaff at all the venues.

"We wish to congratulate all those persons who worked hard to produce high-standard conditions at Sabina Park and Kensington Oval," said the WICB's Chief Executive Officer, Gregory Shillingford.

Both West Indies captain, Carl Hooper, and South African captain, Shaun Pollock, as well as the Match Referee (Mike Denness in the Test series and John Reid in the One-Day International series) were asked to judge this competition - a new incentive by the WICB to encourage groundstaff to produce their best for the 2001 home series.

Each venue was judged in the following categories: pitch bounce, pitch competitiveness, pitch appearance, pitch management, outfield evenness, outfield appearance and outfield management.