Groundsmen working on the pitch at Sabina Park yesterday ahead of today's first One-day International. West Indies coach Roger Harper is second from right. -Junior Dowie photoTony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
THE five-match Cable & Wireless one-day international series between the West Indies and India is scheduled to get under way at Sabina Park today weather permitting.
Up to yesterday, the match was still in doubt although the groundstaff was making every effort to prepare a pitch good enough for the contest.
Following the heavy rain since Wednesday morning, the entire square at Sabina Park was soft and soggy up to yesterday afternoon.
The pitch for the match was so soft that attempts were being made to prepare the one used for the fifth Test. That too, however, was also so soft that the consensus was that even if there was no more rain there was only a slim chance of the match being played.
The other problem was that the field was saturated - particularly some areas around the boundary.
According to match referee Mike Procter of South Africa, however, every effort is being made and would continue to be made to play the game.
"We have up to 12.40 to start," said Procter. "It can come down to a 25-over per side match, and we can bring in the boundary."
Although the contest may not get off to a blazing start, it should be a close and exciting.
After winning the Test series by the count of two to one, the West Indies are gunning for a double that would underline their superiority; and after going ahead and then losing it, India are bidding for a face-saving victory.
That is one reason why the series promises to be closely contested.
Another reason is that both teams appear evenly matched.
With Christopher Gayle and Wavell Hinds at the top of the order and Ridley Jacobs at number seven, with Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, captain Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in between, the West Indies boast a solid batting order, and with Virender Sehwag and Yuveraj Singh joining Sachin Tendulkar and captain Sourav Ganguly who are likely to open the batting, Rahul Dravid, who is expected to take over as the wicketkeeper, VS Laxman and Dinesh Mongia who scored a century in his last one-day international, so too do India.
As far as the bowling is concerned, the West Indies, who are likely to stick with an attack of four pacers, should be well served by Mervyn Dillon, Cameron Cuffy, Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore and support bowlers Hinds, Hooper and Gayle; and so too India who, certainly for today, will be selecting their attack from pacers Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar, offspinner Harbhajan Singh, and possibly left-arm spinner Murali Karlik who is also rated a good batsman.
One reason why it promises to be an exciting contest is because both teams boast some exciting batsmen.
Numbered among the West Indies batsmen are Gayle and Hinds, Sarwan, Hooper, Lara and Jacobs; and apart from Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman, in Sehwag and Yuveraj, India's line-up include two confident, aggressive batsmen who fear no one.
Victory in the series for either team could depend on a good start, because of that, it is important to get off the mark first, and because of that, the match, if it is played and regardless of its length, should be interesting.
The pitch should not be good for batting and it will not be the perfect stage for a contest. So much is at stake, however, so exciting are a number of the batsmen on parade that it could be an exciting affair.
It could be short and sweet.
