Pacy track at Sabina Park

Ahead of the second Test between India and West Indies, Curator Michael Hylton has promised the Sabina Park pitch will assist the fast bowlers with bounce as it did when Caribbean Premier League 2016 matches were held there earlier.

In an interview to bcci.tv, he said: “As you would have noticed, the covers are still on. Even if you water overnight and roll next morning, you need to preserve moisture a little longer than you normally do. It is not like you come on the morning, take off the cover and open up the pitch. Sometimes, we get rains. We got caught out during the third game of the CPL.

“We thought it would be sunny, we watered the pitch a day before and we had to keep the covers on longer than we would’ve liked. That pitch had more moisture than other matches. The guys were not happy initially, but they won the match. So you have that kind of a challenge when you are not sure about the weather,” he said.

A lot of former West Indian fast bowlers have asked for more grass cover on the Sabina Park pitch. “There was a time about two years back when there was no grass at all. So, they would remind us when we had the second fastest pitch in the Caribbean. They would tell us why can’t we get back to being the fastest. We have gotten there and now moving forward. Guys like (Courtney) Walsh pass through, have a look at the pitch and speak to us,” he added.