Embarrassment and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) have been close
companions over the past few years and nothing that happened yesterday at
the Sir Vivian Richards (SVR) Stadium dispelled the notion that cricket in
the Caribbean is badly served by the people who run it. An appalling
outfield, relaid twice since the World Cup in 2007, but still a sandy mess
and run-ups that made a mockery of the efforts of international bowlers,
caused the match in Antigua to be abandoned after ten balls.
It is the latest shambles from an organisation that specialises in them. In no
particular order, cricket-loving people in the region have been subjected to
the three-way squabble between the WICB, Allen Stanford and Digicel; the
loss of sponsors this year for the one-day and first-class regional
tournaments; the bitter disputes between the WICB and the West Indies
Players’ Association, which have resulted in a 5-0 victory for the players
in arbitrations between the two, and the dispute last year between Dr Donald
Peters, the chief executive, and Dr Julian Hunte, the president, which
resulted in Peters being put on gardening leave.
When you add to that the disastrous legacy of the World Cup, it is clear that
resignations are urgently called for.
The WICB will argue that it is the responsibility of the ground authority to
hand over the stadium in a suitable condition. But the WICB has known for
months that a Test match was to be played here. As recently as November,
when England were in Antigua for the Stanford tournament, there was no
evidence of grass growing through the sandy topsoil. Nor has there been a
match played here before this Test to ensure the suitability of the
conditions. Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, sent a
letter to the home board on Thursday evening outlining his concerns.
After the umpires led the players from the field, officials from the ICC, the
WICB and the ECB gathered in crisis management mode, something in which they
are all well versed. As they did, Tony Merrick, the former Leeward Islands
fast bowler, who is the groundsman here, got his bucket and spade out (save
the piña coladas for later) and began to dig up the areas that were causing
the bowlers the most concern. It was inconceivable that the measures would
work, just as it was inconceivable that the match would go ahead at the SVR
Stadium.
The decision to abandon came after four balls of the second over of the match,
when Fidel Edwards aborted his run-up for the umpteenth time. A group of six
West Indies players gathered round, among them Chris Gayle, the captain,
after which Andrew Strauss, the England captain, was brought into the
discussions. Ultimately, it was the two umpires, Tony Hill and Daryl Harper,
who took the players from the field and, in conjunction with the match
referee and the captains, made the decision to abandon play.
Everybody had highlighted the potential problems the day before, and when
Jerome Taylor ran up to bowl the first over it was clear that the concerns
were justified. He aborted his run-up first ball, bowled the next from 23
yards when he lost his run-up again and was forced to bowl his fourth ball
from round the wicket as he went, like a jockey, searching for “good
ground”.
As the players left the field, watched in silent bemusement by the two or
three thousand (mainly English) supporters in the ground, the scenes were
eerily reminiscent of Sabina Park in Jamaica 11 years ago, when a match was
abandoned for the first time in Test history. That, though, was because of a
disgraceful pitch. This time the pitch was fine, even though Gayle had
decided to bowl first. The problem was with the outfield and specifically
the run-ups.
Such was the sandy nature of the run-ups, that the bowlers felt no solid
ground beneath their feet, extremely dangerous when you consider that a
bowler puts three times his body weight through his ankles on delivery. As
the bowlers ran in, they kicked up sand at every stride, like horses on the
gallops. To make matters worse, where the bowlers take off at the Southern
Stand End, a ditch ten feet wide and two feet across had been dug up to
accommodate the television cables and filled with sand. During practice and
before the start of play, all the bowlers felt that it was unsafe.
The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, built for the World Cup with money from the
Chinese Government, has had a chequered history, most of which is relevant
to yesterday’s debacle. The stadium itself is built in a valley on swamp
ground. During the World Cup and then again during the only previous Test
match played here, against Australia in May 2008, there were problems with
the drainage at the outer extremities of the playing area.
To improve the drainage the outfield was given a sandy base. The relaying was
the responsibility of the Antiguan Government, without any guidance given by
cricket people such as Andy Roberts, the great former West Indies fast
bowler, who has looked after Antigua Recreation Ground here for years. Since
the World Cup, many of the new stadiums have been looked after by ground
authorities. In Barbados, for example, the new ground is managed by the
Kensington Oval Management Inc, which has little or no cricketing expertise.
It is the same situation in Antigua. No wonder Richards, the man after whom
the ground is named, was muttering yesterday about “armchair generals”.
This was an embarrassing day for West Indies cricket, but a worse one for the
thousands of English spectators who had spent thousands of pounds on their
trip to Antigua. As disgraceful as anything in the day was the sight of
hundreds of them, queueing in squally showers for more than an hour after
the match had started, waiting to get into a stadium that was virtually
empty. When they were finally given entry, the players were walking off.
Shambles.
England: First Innings
*A J Strauss not out 6
A N Cook not out 1
Extras 0
Total (no wkt; 1.4 overs) 7
O A Shah, K P Pietersen, P D Collingwood, A Flintoff, †M J Prior, S C J Broad,
R J Sidebottom, M S Panesar and J M Anderson did not bat.
Bowling: Taylor 1-0-5-0; Edwards 0.4-0-2-0.
West Indies: *C H Gayle, D S Smith, R R Sarwan, S Chanderpaul, B P
Nash, R O Hinds, †D Ramdin, JE Taylor, S J Benn, D B L Powell, F H Edwards.
Umpires: D J Harper (Australia) and A L Hill (New Zealand).
Expert view from afar
Peter Marron, former Lancashire groundsman, on the lie of the land
What went wrong in Antigua?
From what I've seen on TV they have recently had the outfield relaid with a
sand-based drainage and the grass has not taken root properly. They've tried
to get away with just seeding the outfield and for that to work you need
everything to go in your favour. You need the right weather, the right
fertiliser and enough time. When you see that the grass isn't taking, you
need to look at how long you've got before the ground is needed for a match
and think about turfing it.
How long does relaying an outfield take?
We've done it at Old Trafford over the winter and it took six weeks from start
to finish but we chose to turf it because there will be a five-day Take That
concert this summer and the outfield needs to withstand that.
Will returfing be the groundsman's decision?
I've heard that the groundsman in Antigua [Tony Merrick, below] knew about
these problems a couple of months ago, but clearly someone decided not to
lay turf and take a chance. If I was the groundsman, I'd make the chairman
take notice of me by thumping his desk until he agreed to turf it.
How much does that cost?
It depends on the quality of the turf. It cost us £90,000 at Old Trafford, but
we used what they call washed turf, which is very thin and knits quicker. We
were quoted £50,000 for a less good turf. But you have to compare that to
what you have to spend if a Test match is abandoned.
Would you insist on some trial matches before allowing a relaid outfield to
be used for a Test?
No, that wouldn't bother me, but I'd know we'd done the project properly and
there wouldn't be problems.
Interview by Patrick Kidd
