When I started knowing about regional and international cricket, as played in the Caribbean, early 60s, there were four main cricket grounds. In Guyana, there was Bourda, while T&T had the Queen's Park Oval. Barbados had the Kensington Oval, while Jamaica had Sabina Park. That was, simply, that! Up to about 2000, before the efforts of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, each of these cricket pitches had their very own characteristics too, courtesy of the individual head-groundsmen. Others, like the Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG) and those in Grenada, St Vincent and St Lucia, especially for one-day cricket, soon joined them. Captains certainly had to make proper selections and adjustments to cope well then.
The old Sabina Park, circa 1977, in the same series in which I made my Test debut, was a fast bowler's dream, even though the world's better batsmen also got many runs there. Sabina's pitches there would be hard, fast and slick, with a useful gloss on top, like in furniture making, the practice of placing glass in, or on, very hard wood, for tables.
Real quick bowlers of the past
Andy Roberts bowled so quickly in that 1977 Test against Pakistan, that, in a successful appeal against Zaheer Abbas, Zed's left pad was ripped from his leg! Imran Khan did similarly for the visitors, getting eight fiery wickets, while yours truly also had seven. Conversely, Bourda was a batsman's paradise; many a fast bowler's nightmare. It was so "flat"! Many batsmen simply closed their eyes, playing "through the line" with relish. How John Trim and Charlie Stayers, the two Guyanese Test fast bowlers before me, managed, I would never know. I cannot explain how I became a Test cricketer either.
Dead Bourda kills bowlers
Reon King and Colin Stuart, the two Guyanese Test fast bowlers who played after me, would also suggest that it was a bowler's graveyard. Bourda killed many a fast bowler. For example, in 1966, Guyana made 625; Barbados made 552; nearly 1,200 runs in four days–game over! The Kensington Oval in Barbados used to be the best of all of our pitches, overall. Initially, it gave the faster bowlers a chance. Then, it would settle down after a day, to give batsmen a chance. On the last day or so, it produced spin. The consistent bounce was its best legacy. Many wonderful Test games transpired.
Many still remember that Test, in 1981, against England, when Michael Holding bowled several really tremendously fast overs, in both innings, cleaning up Geoff Boycott twice, and Ian Botham too, for good measure. Holding got five wickets as the West Indies won the game, but the surprise was that three batsmen, Clive Lloyd, Graeme Gooch and Vivian Richards all got centuries. What a game! What a pitch! The pitch at the Queen's Park Oval, back then, was always my favourite in the Caribbean. That was not because of my 8-29 against Pakistan there in 1977. This pitch always offered a challenge!
No one, not the captains, not even the head-groundman, certainly not the players, knew what to expect or what would happen next, especially on the first day. That first Test match against South Africa, recently, reminded me very much of the QPO pitches of old.
Roy Fredericks was bowled, first ball of the game, by India's Abid Ali, in 1971, with a delivery that never bounced off the pitch, the original "ground-eater." In 1977, in the same game that I got that 8-29, Viv Richards was dismissed by Salim Altaf, with another rolling snake!
ARG was once a good pitch
Everyone expected the pitch at the QPO to yield great spin. Jack Noreiga did get 9-95 against the 1971 Indians bowling off-breaks, but the spinning combination of Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prassana, Salim Durani and Srinavas Venkataraghavan accounted for 17 of the 20 West Indies wickets, as the West Indies slid to a seven-wicket loss. In 1981, I played in the first Test to be played at the venerable Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG). It was such a good pitch that Andy Roberts did not get a wicket in the game. Viv Richards and Geoff Boycott got centuries, while Peter Willey's 100 was the best of all. Having cut my teeth at Bourda, I even had eight wickets in that Test too.
There is not much cricket played at the ARG these days, but the pitches there have not changed much. Last year's tremendous game, West Indies v England, after the game was transferred from the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, because of a bad outfield, produced nearly 1,450 runs in five extremely exciting days of cricket; in a drawn game too!
Football and cricket on the same pitch
If you followed football in the United Kingdom, before Fifa World Cup 2010, you would have heard that Wembley Stadium, which has almost always been the home of English football, has been having a terribly hard time with its pitch, despite it being relayed several times over the last several years. The main reason for this is quite simple. It should, however, be noted that Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, Highbury, the old home of Arsenal, before the new Emirates Stadium, and Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea, have also been used for games featuring England. Wembley's pitch has suffers badly, being severely cut-up whenever football is played on it. Strangely, without much real usage, a few of the pitches at FIFA W-C 2010 have also been similar.
Wembley is used so much, for so many things; American (grid-iron) football and indoor car racing, etc, that the surface just cannot cope. I saw first-hand the damage that a pop concert can do to a Test venue. When the "Gloved One," Michael Jackson, was still in his pomp, long before he left us, he had a concert at the Sydney Cricket Gound (SCG). The damage was so bad that it took about five years for the sward to recuperate. Cricket Australia swore that nothing similar would ever happen again. To date, since then, it has not. Each pitch in Australia is still individual.
Pitches must vary from ground to ground
These days, especially after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, with the rich history of the pitches of the Caribbean, those present now, anywhere, are almost the same, mostly character-less. None of them have any individual feel whatsoever. Except that you have to fly from Guyana to St Kitts, no-one could tell, from the recent cricket, that the pitch at Guyana's National Stadium, at Providence, is any different than that at Warner Park! Had it not been for the rain and the lack of preparation, the QPO would probably have been poor for cricket too.
That lack of preparation, for that 1st Test against South Africa, actually helped that game, as the unpredictability returned, at least for a short time. West Indies lost, again! Yes, most of our cricketers are just average, at best, but none of the batsmen are being tested, in our regional cricket, on pitches that are quick, varying, or even spinning. Our cricketers are being found out by other teams because they play on different surfaces in places like South Africa and England. I wonder when we will have an academy for grounds-curators? Most of those that we have now do not have a clue what they are about! Enjoy!