Run fest expected at T20 World Cup

SIXES and fours are expected to be the order of the day at the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup, as head of cricket operations at Cricket West Indies (CWI), Roland Holder, said the curators are aiming to prepare wickets conducive for batting.

On March 26, the final leg of CWI’s curator workshops ended in Trinidad. Before the Trinidad leg, workshops were held in Antigua, St Lucia, St Vincent, Barbados, and Guyana.

Curators in other countries were not left out as some from Grenada participated in the Trinidad workshop. Most of the workshops included at least 20 participants.

The workshops are expected to help West Indies prepare pitches for the T20 World Cup from June 1-29. Six venues will host matches in the West Indies, including Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad; Kensington Oval in Barbados; Arnos Vale Stadium in St Vincent; Providence Stadium in Guyana; Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia; and Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Matches at the World Cup will also be played in the US. Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas, and Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Florida will host matches.

Speaking to the media at UWI SPEC in St Augustine on March 26, Holder said high-scoring matches are likely.

The former Barbados and West Indies batsman said, “From a batsman’s perspective, definitely lots of runs I hope.”

Asked if bowlers should be fearful, Holder said fans will have to be aware of cork balls flying into the stands.

“If you look at the quality of the players coming to the World Cup, I think even spectators should be worried and where you park your cars. You probably need to be very conscious of that.”

Holder is happy with the progress at the venues.

“We are pretty satisfied where we are in terms of readiness at this point in time. There is a venue inspection coming up, the third venue inspection and most likely the final one that commences next week, so it is just to make sure we hit all our targets, etcetera, which we have been doing thus far.”

Holder said the workshops were not only focused on the T20 World Cup but also helping curators learn what type of surface to produce for each format.

“It covered curatorship in general, so if you have a basic understanding of curatorship you could then prepare your pitches to suit. A T20 pitch you are looking for a batter-friendly surface. We spoke about red-ball cricket, the longer version of the game which will be four or five days. We spoke about the 50-over game (and) the types of pitches you want to put out there. Part of the entire programme involved the simulation of building a cricket pitch from scratch... from a CWI perspective, we were very happy to put on these workshops in conjunction with the various territorial boards and the ICC.”

CWI regional curator Kent Crafton was pleased with the attitude of the participants at the workshops.

“From our end, it was really nice to see the response we got from the people who took part throughout the region,” Crafton said. After such a positive start in Antigua, the energy continued at the other workshops, Crafton said.

Head curator at Coolidge Cricket Ground Travas Ferris said many of the curators developed their skills.

“One of the things that stood out for me throughout the workshops is we had a lot of guys who have been doing curator work for over 20 years and they have been doing the wrong thing. The information and knowledge that we shared they received it well and they are ready to go back to their previous grounds and make the adjustments.”