Kensington pitch reminds of old West Indian deathbeds

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 14(UNI) Fast bowlers are salivating in anticipation while hapless batsmen take evasive action to avoid the balls threatening to knock their heads off! In a high-scoring World Cup, with willow-wielders building sky scrappers of scores on dead tracks, a lively Kensington Oval is a pleasent reminder of the old West Indian pitches which used to the burial grounds of batsmen.

After two matches on Barbados ground, spectators are yet to see a team crossing 200-run mark. Bangladesh were bundled out for 143 while England lost six wickets in overhauling the modest total.

Worse was in store for Ireland, who were blown away by the Aussies for paltry 91.

And it is not just the stumps that have taken a beating. Two Irish players were seriously hit by the Aussie pace bowlers on the helmet as the balls were rising alarmingly from the good length.

The batsmen, understandably so, are shell-shocked.

''It is really a nightmare and frightening,'' the pitch prompted England batsmen Andrew Strauss to comment.

However, not everyone is complaining and least of them all, former West Indian great Joel Garner.

''This is the true West Indies wicket. All other wickets of other venues have either become dead or slow. In fact in Guyana the ball was not rising above the stump level. It will be a good fun,'' said Barbados native Garner, who terrorised batsmen with his 6'8'' frame and express delievries in the eighties.

The tournament's highest wicket taker Glenn McGrath also feels the Joel Garner way. He thinks that the wicket will further improve and should be livelier by the final.

''When I came here for the first time in 1999 it was great. When I returned in 2003 it was not so but now it has become unrecognizable, the old style. This is what the West Indian pitches are all about,'' McGrath said.

Today Kensington Oval has one-stand names after Joel Garner and another in the name of Malcolm Marshall and fittingly the organizers have prepaid the most interesting square of the whole tournament.

''There is good moisture on it which makes it a difficult pitch to bat on in the first innings. By afternoon it becomes little easier but the first half remains a big problem for the batsmen,'' said former England captain Michael Atherton.

Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting, whose bunch were the only team comfortable in the middle, is wary even though his team play no other match here in the Super Eight stage.

''Yes the pitch was bouncy and in fact it did remind us of the old West Indies pitches which used to be like this. We should adjust to these conditions,'' said Ponting adding, ''as the final is here only.'' UNI