Current Caribbean pitches favour spinners

– continuously dominate regional tournaments

By Brandon Corlette

Asian countries are known to be more suitable for spin bowling, but the Caribbean pitches in the recent stand-alone Women’s World T20 proved otherwise. In the 2016 Women’s World T20 tournament played in the spin-dominant India, 134 wickets were taken by spinners compared to 140 taken in the Caribbean (Antigua, St Lucia and Guyana).

Veerasammy Permaul

It may have only been a six-wicket difference, but spinners were able to pick up wickets more regularly in the Caribbean than in India. The spinners in the Women’s World T20 created more chances and were able to pick up wickets every 18 balls in contrast to every 20.7 in India. Six of the top 10 bowlers in the stand-alone Women’s World T20 tournament were spinners with Ashleigh Gardener topping the charts with 10 wickets. Kristie Gordon, Stafanie Taylor, Radha Yadav, Leigh Kasperek and Poonam Yadav were the other outstanding spinners.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League (PCL) Regional 4-Day tournament 2017-2018 has showed significantly that spinners were the dominant on “slow Caribbean pitches”. Six of the top 10 leading wicket takers in the 2017-2018 Regional 4-Day tournament were spin bowlers. Leading that chart was Veerasammy Permaul with 50 wickets capturing four five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul. Imran Khan was second on that chart with 48 wickets picking up three five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul. Shane Shillingford captured 38, Nikita Miller 36, Jomel Warrican 36, and Jamaican leg-spinner Damion Jacobs 28.

Anthony Adams bowls; Guyana Jaguars may play three spinners in the upcoming Regional 4-Day since the Caribbean pitches are spin-friendly

Permaul, who made his First-Class debut in 2007, played 103 First-Class matches for 444 wickets, including 25 five-wicket hauls. How much has the present Caribbean pitches aided in his regional success? The same question may be directed to Imran Khan who made his debut in 2005, after the lively pitches, and has 368 wickets. Gudakesh Motie, another spinner, has had success in regional tournaments with 85 wickets in 24 matches after making his debut in 2015.
In another regional tournament, the Regional Super50 2018-2019, Canada’s spin ace Romesh Eranga and Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) spin king Kjorn Ottley topped the charts with 17 wickets apiece.

Gudakesh Motie captured 21 wickets in the Regional 2017-2018 4-Day tournament

In the 1981 regional tournament, the Combined Leeward and Windward Islands, captained by Vivian Richards, won the championship for the first time on the back of great fast bowlers; Andy Roberts took 25 wickets in four matches at an average of 9.92. Those were the days when the Caribbean pitches were lively. The likes of Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Wayne Daniel, Sylvester Clarke, Colin Croft, and Michael Holding continuously topped regional bowling charts in the past.
Therefore, the past Caribbean pitches were different than the present pitches; but will the spin trend continue in the upcoming Regional Four-Day tournament?