Windwards, Jamaica to battle on green top

GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC):

Batsmen will have to be at their best as Jamaica and Windward Islands are expected to encounter a lively, green-top pitch in the final of the WICB Regional Four-Day Championship which bowls off here today.

When the two teams arrived for training at the Beausejour Stadium yesterday they were greeted with a pitch with a full covering of grass, and with little trimming expected, the battle for the Headley/Weekes Trophy could be an exciting one when it gets going at 10 a.m.

The well-grassed pitch is expected to give the home side a distinct advantage as their seam bowling attack has been successful this season with the likes of Kenroy Peters, Nelon Pascal and Mervin Mathew among the wickets. They are also expected to welcome back Shane Shillingford, their ace West Indies off-spinner, who missed the last few games.

Jamaica, meanwhile, have in their arsenal out-of-favour West Indies fast bower Jerome Taylor and left-arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell, and these two could also present problem on a helpful surface.

Windwards will enter the match with more confidence. They easily disposed of T&T by 234 runs inside three days, in their semi-final last weekend, with left-arm seamer Peters taking seven wickets in the second innings demolition.

After a brilliant first innings century from skipper Tamar Lambert, Jamaica had to dig deep to scrape home by one wicket against Barbados and their batting must step up to avoid another implosion.

Speaking ahead of the match neither camp seemed bothered by the grass on the pitch.

"There is a lot of grass. We don't know if anymore will be shaved off ahead of the match but we are not going to worry too much about it," Jamaica coach Junior Bennett said.

Windward Islands coach Ian Allen says his team enjoys playing at Beausejour and will be looking to end the season on a high.

"We have a very good record here. Our first match here this season we beat Barbados, so coming back here we expect to do the same and have a win against Jamaica as well," the former Windies seamer said.