The pitch is crucial to Twenty20 cricket

THE state of the pitches have put a damper on the 2020 version of the Hero Caribbean Premier League. Already suffering from the limitations caused by circumstances beyond their control, the cricketers have to endure wickets that are not conducive to good cricket.

They are eliciting prodigious turn and variable bounce – the type of pitches on which batsmen are not comfortable, thus robbing the game of much of its art and elegance, the fair battle between bat and ball.

Although this format, the T20 game, is strictly for crowd entertainment, the professional cricketer still has to play on the pitch presented for the game. He has to work out a plan and system to navigate the innings to an acceptable conclusion.

When limited-overs cricket began internationally in the early seventies, the idea was to ensure that pitches were perfect for batsmen to dispense their strokes with panache and flair. That is what makes this game interesting. The entertainment lies with the batsmen going after the bowling and the bowler has to work within these parameters to limit the batsmen’s scoring shots.

Unlike Test cricket where the wicket is prepared for five days cricket, the deterioration of the pitch plays an integral part in the unfolding of the game, thus establishing the strength and strategy of teams. Not so the limited over variety. Moreover, the twenty-overs that emotional fans thoroughly enjoy!

In matches such as these, the sixes and fours unleash the roar of the crowd as well as stumps crashing when batsmen are bowled or dashing fieldsmen procure run outs. Nevertheless, when it becomes a battle of attrition and the batsman cannot stroke the ball as it bounces off the pitch, the contest becomes unexciting. The game only has one inning so it’s not like the batting team has another chance to recover in the second inning.

Therefore, the action has to be fast and furious. It is a matter of the bowler trying to contain the batsman, preventing him plundering runs, with the crowd being a huge part of the excitement, motivating the cricketers to stretch their limits and the devil take the hindmost.

Thus, in the 20-over contest, the state of the pitch is absolutely critical to the enjoyment of the match. And although in this tournament there is no crowd present, it is still not helping the ethos of the format.

The wicket at the Brian Lara Stadium played low with variable bounce. The ball was turning more than it should and the pitch was two-paced. The one at the Queen’s Park Oval surprisingly did even more for the bowler. It made the winning of the toss in this 20-over game too important, giving a huge advantage to the side fielding first. It didn’t make for a balanced contest or for an entertaining one.

One also has to bear in mind that the participating cricketers (except for those on the West Indies team just back from England) have been woefully short on practice and games. Under normal circumstances it would be a challenge to bat on wickets as unpredictable as these; so, with only 20 overs batting allotted, one can imagine the concentration and skill required to play a decent innings on such a pitch.

The shame and embarrassment is that a couple of millions fans make up a vast overseas viewership, assessing the present condition of our local pitches.

The best team in the tournament so far is the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR). They have managed the conditions well, but then again they possess excellent leadership and experience in Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. That’s a tremendous advantage to have; nonetheless, in the unpredictable nature of cricket no matter the experience, one still has to perform on the day.

Last Saturday, on an improved Oval pitch, we were entertained to a brutal innings of 72 including nine sixes by Pollard, to lift his side from a precarious position into a fantastic victory. Better pitches make for more exciting 20-over cricket.

At the wrong end of the standings are the Patriots which have been having lacklustre performances after playing a fine first game which they lost by only six runs. However, they ruptured the fabric of the team by dropping the young promising Joshua Da Silva who played a fine innings of 41 undefeated at a run-a-ball, together with the talented Alzarri Joseph plus the gifted Dominic Drakes! If after the first game three players are dropped it tells me the selectors lack perception.

The Patriots never recovered!