/ Editor / 19 February 2007 /

Pitches are likely to be a big factor on deciding where the World Cup trophy will go, so this feature will have a look at all eight of the main venues to be used in the Caribbean.

Remember also that for the 2007 edition of cricket's world championship; all games will be played in daylight, with no day-night games at all because of the likely intervention of the weather as their summer turns into autumn.

Sabina Park in Jamaica has had a mixed reputation in the past, but in one-day cricket it appears to have favoured bowlers in more recent times, with only really South Africa seeming to enjoy it. The Proteas chased down a target of 254 to win with five overs to spare and for the loss of only two wickets in 2005.

But the recent redevelopment of the arena could well have had an effect on the pitch as well, so it is going to be tough to develop an idea of it's intricacies without a look at it in one of the early games it hosts - it has not been used since the start of July last year, and that was under Test match conditions.

The beautiful stadium, renowned for it's views of the Blue Mountains, was first known as a batsman's paradise and hosted Sir Garfield Sobers' old world record of 365 not out back in the sixties. But more recently it has favoured quick bowlers, those with raw pace rather than seam or swing bowlers.

It will long be remembered for the 1998 Test against England which was abandoned on the first day with England struggling for runs and struggling to avoid injury, on what was one of the most dangerous pitches ever produced.

Of the home players, Ramnaresh Sarwan is most favoured at Sabina Park with an average of 63 in six innings, while Brian Lara has struggled and only averages under 30 in 11 innings. Ian Bradshaw could be the bowler to follow with seven wickets at an average of 18.14 runs. Glenn McGrath and Makhaya Ntini have also had success.

Centuries have been tough to make, with only three since the turn of the millennium - one apiece for Chris Gayle, Graeme Smith and Rahul Dravid.

England's home in St Lucia for the first round of the contest, the Beausejour Stadium, is one of the newest venues in the Caribbean and only held it's first Test match four years ago, so long-term trends are impossible to find.

But on the information at hand it looks certain to benefit batsmen, and should England or New Zealand hit form against either Kenya or Canada's bowling, there could be some massive totals.

Pakistan became the first team to break the 300 barrier in 2005, but the West Indies looked in good shape to chase that down at 220-3 before Rana Naved Ul-Hasan and Abdul Razzaq ran through their lower order.

England also twice played here on their 2003/4 tour of the West Indies, but lost both games despite twice setting the hosts over 280 to win. Of the players in their 2007 squad, Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan all got runs and Flintoff and James Anderson (albeit expensively) had some success with the bat.

Stephen Fleming has also averaged 61.50 in his two knocks on St Lucia while, for those who might like to follow an outsider in the bowling markets, Chris Gayle leads the wicket-taking ranks with nine - spin bowlers have had some success at Beausejour.

The Queens Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago also has a mixed reputation, although there has been a massive redevelopment programme going on and there are doubts whether the pitch will be fully bedded in by March.

There have been five scores of over 250 in the past year, but two of those came in one-sided wins for Zimbabwe over Bermuda. Before that it had often depended on weather conditions whether it would be a bowling or batting strip.

Three scores of over 300 have been recorded, but one of those came from the Zimbabweans and the other two were nine and 19 years ago, both from the West Indies, who have an excellent record in Brian Lara's homeland. Lara also has two of the top three one-day international scores at the Queens Park Oval.

Bowling will also be interesting at this venue, with the list of best figures in ODIs making for reading - the likes of Scott Styris (6-25), Mervyn Dillon, Sanath Jayasuriya and Phil Simmons are all in the top five and spinners have had success with front-line bowlers struggling.

The Antigua Recreation Ground, now known as the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, was once staffed by inmates from the local prison, but has more recently proved something of a prison for batsmen in its' limited use.

Scores in the region of 220 have often proved enough for success, although the West Indies did smash a second-class Australia attack for 313 back in 1978 for the only ODI score of 250 or over at the ground.

But the difference between Test and ODI conditions is marked, as the ground hosted Brian Lara's world record Test score of 400 not-out against England only three years ago. It also saw the West Indies score 747 against South Africa in 2005 when Chris Gayle fired 317 and eight players scored centuries, in a match when only 17 wickets were taken.

The Kensington Oval in Barbados will be completely new for all cricketers during the World Cup as it was completely demolished in 2005 after the end of the Test with Pakistan - a match dominated by the hosts.

A first-innings five-wicket haul for Fidel Edwards proved all the difference, and 13 wickets fell to spinners later in the game as the Windies won by 276 runs, on the back of two totals around the 350-mark and centuries from Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The old Oval favoured batsmen in one-day internationals, with two scores of over 300 in a West Indies-Sri Lanka match in 2003 when only 10 wickets fell all day, while both Chris Gayle and Boeta Dippenaar scored centuries in the same game a year later.

Grenada's new National Cricket Stadium (formerly Queen's Park) is another venue that will prove difficult for people to judge in the run-up to the tournament. Even before the new stadium was built, Grenada had rarely hosted international cricket with just one Test and a handful of one-day matches.

The one problem for punters in games on the Windward Islands is likely to be the weather, as it is more often affected by rain at this time of year than any other venue in the Caribbean, as it was last time it held a one-day international in 2004 when the game was reduced to 25 overs a side.

Warner Park on St Kitts was the first of the new 2007 venues to open, and did so with it's only one-day international so far back in May of last year.

That saw a thrilling encounter between the West Indies and India that the home side won by four wickets off the penultimate ball of the game, with Sarwan the hero as his unbeaten innings of 115 off 119 balls proved just enough.

Evidence from that game suggests batsmen who show some patience in the early part of their innings will be rewarded, as only four players made scores of over 50 while seven players failed even to make it to double figures.

The final arena, Providence Stadium in Guyana, has yet to host a first-class game and is therefore difficult to interpret, but it is another venue that is likely to be affected by bad weather with the tournament coming towards the end of the West Indian summer.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: