Pitch holds key in Trinidad

Pitch holds key in Trinidad

By Donna Symmonds Caribbean cricket broadcaster

The last time the West Indies played Australia at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, the match was one the respective captains and supporters would find hard to forget.

West Indies were skittled by Australia's pacemen four years ago

It was the first Test in which Steve Waugh had captained Australia, Courtney Walsh took his 400th wicket and the West Indies, under Brian Lara, recorded their lowest ever score of 51 to lose by 312 runs.

The home side recovered to earn a thrilling 2-2 draw, with Lara named Man of the Series.

He, Mervyn Dillon and Pedro Collins are the only survivors from that West Indies team, with Ridley Jacobs out injured.

The home side did not play a specialist spinner in that test and relied on the slow left-arm of Jimmy Adams, who bowled 22 overs in the game.

By contrast, the Aussies played two leg-spinners in Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill.

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Although MacGill took three wickets in the West Indies first innings, it was Glenn McGrath with 10 wickets in the game who did most of the damage with Jason Gillespie complementing him with four victims in the second innings rout.

Since then, it has been the seam bowlers who have prospered in Trinidad - Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis and Allan Donald were very effective for South Africa in 2001, as were Indians Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra a year ago.

Both games ended in defeat for West Indies.

Recent history should be considered when the team is picked to face Australia, but so too the fact that Trinidad is currently experiencing one of its longest dry spells in over 25 years.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, in a local radio interview, indicated that although he was in the squad and travelling to Port of Spain, he was still experiencing some stiffness in his damaged finger when batting for "long periods".

If all is well, however, he will play, probably as replacement for Marlon Samuels, the off-spinning option used in the first Test.

Brian Lara talks things over with coach Gus Logie

Australia and West Indies have three wins each from previous Test meetings in Trinidad, five matches ending in draws

Wavell Hinds may also be vulnerable but his second innings dismissal in Guyana was controversial, and he offers options with his medium pace and back-up keeping.

The West Indies have drafted in one specialist off-spinner - Omari Banks - as it is thought that the Australians play leg-spinners very well.

Whether or not he plays would seem to present the biggest problem for the West Indies selectors.

To play Banks and keep six batsmen, one of the fast bowlers would have to go unless new wicket-keeper Carlton Baugh's batting is considered good enough for him to fill the number six slot.

There are options available - West Indies must make the right choices.