By Rajiv Bisnauth

FORMER West Indies captain Clive Lloyd calls for more lively pitches being prepared in the Caribbean to help properly prepare both batsmen and bowlers.
Lloyd’s comments came in the wake of the regional side’s inability to deal with properly prepared pitches during the recent tour to New Zealand.
Their recent struggles on the tour of New Zealand saw the Caribbean unit lose both Tests by an innings inside four days.
They also suffered a sound thrashing in the preceding three-match T20 International series.

“The point is that we don’t seem to prepare pitches that are lively. When I say lively – good for both batters and bowlers,” Lloyd, the most successful West Indies captain reckoned.
He added, “I think the pitches here … if you looked at the square, there are not a lot, we have about two or three pitches. In England you have about twelve, Old Trafford have about fourteen pitches that they can groom, like in Australia. They have drop-in pitches, and with the amount of work they put in, the grass grew evenly, and was cut nicely…it was groomed, so you get the type of pitch you want”.

Further Lloyd asserted, “You go to a place like Western Australia, it’s good, it’s quick, but it’s good for the batters too.
“Once you get in, you can play through the line, you can play on the up. Barbados in the old days was a very good wicket to bowl on for the first day and a half. In Jamaica, the second day was always the best to bowl on, and so we had pitches that were relatively lively.”
To this end, Lloyd believes that if West Indies cricket is to improve, at least serious consideration should be given to pitch preparation.