It’s not a walk in the Park kind of pitch

As one sits on the fence, watching Charlie quite confused after the first sighting of the all-important 22 yards inside and unable to decide if it’s a Shane Bond or Muttiah Muralitharan kind of pitch, the 70-year-old knows what’s coming. “I would bowl in case I win the toss,” is his verdict as one realises that Charlie isn’t sitting on any fences and he doesn’t have a dilemma.

“It’s a true pitch with bounce that will last all 100 overs. Fast bowlers shouldn’t be disappointed, nor would the spinners be. If a bowler has it in him, he can take wickets and since it has true bounce a skillful batsman will love to spend time on this surface,” he says.

He gradually comes to the point that could be vital for the World Cup semi-final. “It will be bowl-first kind of game because the pitch will gradually become a bit easy for batsman. But don’t expect it to be one where the pacers will get the bounce and spinners the turn,” he says.

Looking back at the past matches played at the Sabina square in general, and Pitch No.3 specifically, it is clear that Charlie is spot on. Passing through a memorabilia store earlier in the day, one flashbacked to the first frame of this World Cup that is captured on T-shirts, mugs, rugs, towels and other conceivable gift articles. It’s one of Pakistan pacer Umar Gul about to bowl to West Indian opener Chris Gayle at the curtain-opening Sabina Park game on March 13. That deadly first spell showed that there was life on the pitch and those hasty assumptions about the World Cup being played on low and slow pitches were laid to rest. Later in the day the West Indian quicks proved the longevity of the bounce.

That’s the square history for you. As for the rectangle in question, the brown patch due to preferential treatment stands out in the middle with former pitches merging into the outfield, it, too, has a distinct ‘early advantage to bowlers’ history. It was on this pitch that Irish pacer Boyd Rankin, Dave Langford-Smith and Andre Botha wrecked Pakistan after their captain won the toss to cause this World Cup’s biggest upset.

Though it must be added here that Pakistan almost weathered the storm as Mohammad Sami’s lightning quick spell later in the day — a few balls sailed over the wicket-keeper — made life tough for the Irish batsmen.

All this proves that the Sabina Park pitch provides a perfect platform to ensure that the best team on the day will proceed to Barbados. That also means a perfect climax to the tournament which with its double-league format has seen to it that the best four teams have survived till the final week.

And with both the teams having multi-dimensional bowling attacks, there wouldn’t be any distinct advantage to anybody. Bond-Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vaas-James Franklin, Daniel Vettori-Murali these are the head-to-heads that go any way depending on the form of the day. Now it seems all will depend on the way the batsmen deal with the bowlers.

Ask Charlie to guess a winner and he comes down from the light roller to take the water hose and starts to garden the bowlers’ run-up area in the practice area. Excepting to hear either Lanka or New Zealand, the answer comes as a surprise. “The bowlers’ will be the winners, this isn’t your regular 300 or 350 kind of pitch,” he says.

So which of the bowlers will shine? This time it’s a counter question or an answer and, for once, one gathers that the straight talking veteran groundsman is sitting on the fence unable to choose from the two perfectly-balanced bowling attacks.

“What’s the score inside, will the West Indies win?” he asks.