Regional fast bowlers need help

Acknowledging the once rich fast bowling legacy, ICC Pitch Consultant Andy Atkinson feels that Caribbean pitches today represent a disservice to the speedsters.

Stabroek Sport caught up with the 55-year-old Atkinson yesterday at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence where he is currently conducting training seminars for the stadium's groundsmen with just 98 days left for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup beginning on April 30.

He believes the region has genuine pacers but they can become irrelevant if they have to struggle on docile Caribbean pitches.

"Unfortunately in Guyana they have been playing on bare pitches (without any green) and not just here but most places and that was always the tradition to produce good batting pitches. What you really need especially since the West Indies has some pretty decent fast bowlers you want to give them a bit of help because you can't have these wickets where batsmen are scoring 700 runs because the bowlers will burn out," Atkinson posited.The curator, who first worked at the MCC at Lords from 1978-1980, said the ICC is trying to encourage curators around the world to prepare more balanced pitches.

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