West Indies v Australia: First Test pitch favours quicks over Nathan Lyons and Fawad Ahmed in tandem

THE Windsor Park track where Australia will face West Indies in the first Test is seen as a spinners’ paradise. Not so, says the venue’s groundsman.

Australia Training Session

Standing with the Roseau River at his back on a steamy afternoon, Windsor Park’s head groundsman Richard LeTang says he’s been hearing a lot about how his pitches are tailor-made for spinners.

He’s not buying it.

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As Australia’s selectors consider promoting uncapped leggie Fawad Ahmed to partner offspinner Nathan Lyon in Wednesday’s first Test, LeTang says the tourists should stick with their strength.

“I would go with the quickies,” LeTang told the Herald Sun.

“There’s a perception that the Windsor Park wicket takes a lot of spin.

“But the surface has a little more grass on it now, four or five millimetres. We’re going to leave it to that for the five days.

“With the wear and tear on it, it can be reduced. But this is the height that we are cutting every day.

“While we are chatting here now, it’s cloudy,” LeTang added on Sunday.

“The clouds are low. It’s heavy.

“If I was to win the toss now and have some good fast bowlers like you Australians have, I would bowl first.

Fawad Ahmed and Nathan Lyon warm up for an Australian nets session at Windsor Park.

“If you have some fast bowlers who can swing the ball, you put the opposition in.

“Early morning if heavy clouds are around and there’s always a heavy atmosphere here …. There’s a river running right at the back of the stadium.

“It’s different to Barbados and Antigua where the conditions are extremely dry.

“We have some humidity in the air.

“The home side have some good spinners. They’ve got three good fast bowlers.

“The Aussies have the same.

“It depends on the day, if there’s moisture, low clouds.

“(But) if it’s dry and sunny, the wicket is hard, I’d bat.”

As a patriotic Dominica man, LeTang wants the match to be a fifth-day thriller so that more Test matches are hosted on the tiny island which has an official population of just over 70,000 people.

Dominica has been the venue for three Tests, including Australia’s 75-run win over the West Indies in 2012.

Lyon claimed seven wickets in the 2012 Dominica Test and occasional spinner Michael Clarke took a five-for in the home side’s second innings.

“One is often hearing the perception that the Dominica wicket will always spin,” LeTang says.

“But we here pride ourselves on preparing a good pitch for both batsmen and bowlers. So we prepare an even pitch.”

LeTang wouldn’t say if he had been given some advice from the home team on how the wicket should be prepared.

“You will always hear stories from different people but that doesn’t mean we have to go along with that,” he says.

“I am a Dominican and I’d love to see this thing play well so we can get future games and everybody can be satisfied with it.

“We hate to see any devil in this pitch.”

Originally published as West Indies v Australia: First Test pitch favours quicks over Nathan Lyons and Fawad Ahmed in tandem