Pitches not helping with proper development of spinners : Gibbs

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Legendary former West Indies off-spinner, Lance Gibbs, says poor pitches in the Caribbean are inflating the ability of spinners in the region and compromising their development.

“I believe the wickets in domestic cricket are too under-prepared and spinners are being made to look better than they are,” ZIZonline quoted the Miami-based Gibbs as saying.

“In my day for example when we played in Barbados or Guyana, spinners had to work hard for their wickets, because they were very good batting surfaces.

“The wickets in Guyana now and at times in Trinidad turn too excessively, which is not helping in proper development of spinners or batsmen and their ability to play spin.”

Gibbs, who turns 81 at month-end, remains the finest spinner to ever emerge from West Indies.

In 79 Tests between 1958 and 1976, he snared 309 wickets at an average of 29, with 18 five-wickets and two ten-wicket hauls.

Gibbs also said the technique of many regional spinners needed to improve, noting Sunil Narine, Devendra Bishoo and Shane Shillingford as the only stand-outs.

“When I was taught to bowl spin, it was to be done with a high arm action and delivering the ball at shoulder length where you literally would touch your ear,” Gibbs contended.

“This is one of the reasons why I believe those three (Narine, Bishoo and Shillingford) have had success [internationally].

He continued: “Other slow bowlers in the region I don’t see this and it’s a big handicap for them because a high arm action allows a spinners to get bounce, which is key to troubling batsmen at the highest level.”

However, Gibbs advised Narine, in light of the ongoing problems with his action, to abstain from bowling the controversial doosra.

“I might suggest Narine should stop bowling the doosra or any other deliveries that may complicate his action and just focus of perfecting the off-break and other line variations, because in my time spinners didn’t bowl that delivery.”

I beg to differ with Mr Gibbs! The pitches in the Caribbean are more spinner friendly than fast bowler friendly. Take a look at the leading wicket takers in regional cricket for the last 5 years!

That's exactly what Gibbs is saying.

Memo to Lance : We aint producing quality Fast men either ! 

west indies are the pits in talent and administration combining to make a steady failure.  so we looking everywhere for cause other than where it actually resides.

again I point out that Wasim Akram and Waquar Unis did not learn to bowl on fast pitches but on iron clad roads..

and that Roberts, Ambrose, the Benjamins etc all came out of Antigu... where exists some of the most uninspiring and unsympathetic wickets for bowlers, ever conceived by the gods of cricket..including the ARG on which Brian Lara put together his famous triple and quadruple tons.

Bourda was supposed to be the most unsympathetic pitch in the west indies and yet Gibbs, Mohammed, King, John Trim, Croft, Ramnarace etc came out of Bourda

case closed!

bowlers have to learn to bowl on what they have.  the condition of the wickets don't matter.  if you have talent you have talent you can go.  if you dont have talent, even if you have the most supportive wickets in the world it wont matter.  your cutarse is assured

we used to have concrete pitches to sharpen up eyesight because they were fast.  there were bowlers..a ton of them... used to do all manner of things with balls on those smooth concrete strips.

its not the pitches.  its the lack of talent.  talented west indian youth no longer feed west indies cricket..only those who dont have the requisite skill to get the goodies in soccer and athletics, basketball etc.  who the hell wants to waste time under the grind of a skuntish parasitic weight like skameron and the wicb for a pittance..when they can get scholarships for he taking in the USA, big soccer contracts and endless wealth if they excell in athletics.

even the cricketers all want to get into the IPL and the T20 leagues around the world not to play for the wicb.  screw the wicb!  let skameron and dem skunt go out and play for the west indies, removing the difficulty that sees the admin take the money and pay the players peanuts.

if the players and administration are one and the same, problem over.  the admin/players can take all the money then.  they are one and the same.  it would be all theirs with no argument ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL::

"It would appear [the pitch] was replaced by a cowboy gang of tarmac layers of the sort who will skim your drive

with a quarter inch of blackstuff in return for ready money,"

wrote Mike Selvey in the Guardian on the eve of the match.

"They seem to have put down a thin veneer of clay straight on top of a deliciously verdant outfield.

The teams can expect uneven bounce from the start… and if it has any pace it could get nasty."

www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/389891.html

Methink this was the Game that Lara gestured to Charlie ....

Mapoui , recall the days when we had qualified Soil men at the Grounds prep !

look nuh.  at Sabina there was always trouble with the pitches.... man you can go back all the way to 1968 against england and see what used to happen there.....

it was endless..it still has not been stabilized..dat Sabina pitch.

all that is why I keep asking what the hell are they all talking about blaming the pitches ::confused::  west indian pitches were never ever any dam good.  the talent flow we had was enormous.  yes..that was it!

the most consistent west indian pitch was at kensington. and it still is.

look here ketchim!  the west inides never liked to play at the QPO because that surface always played to the strengths of the opposition.  there was a test by the name of Ben Kanhai used to run the QPO..head groundsman... and he was under constant suspicion as anti west indian for obvious reasons

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ALLYUH TALKING ABOUT WHEN ALLYUH REFER TO WEST INDIAN PITCHES AS CULPRIT IN THE MIX OF FAILURE.  IT'S AS IF I LIVED A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE TO WHAT ALLYUH LIVED IN THE SAME WEST INDIES AT THE SAME TIME
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PROPERLY SPEAKING...WHAT HAPPENS THERE..NOT 'USED' TO HAPPEN

::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL::

I recall that in Guyana we had a Geologist that calculated the Mud and sand (Loam) mix ..

for the 22 yards ..