Legendary West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose has slammed the “terrible” playing surfaces in the Carribean, saying it is one of the reasons the Windies’ players are struggling at international level.
The West Indies have just returned home from a tour to New Zealand where they didn’t win a single game across all three formats, losing the Test series 2-0 before being whitewashed 3-0 in the ODIs and then going down 2-0 in the T20Is.
The Carribean side have also struggled to produce fast bowlers like they have in the past, and Ambrose, who admits that he did not watch much of the games in New Zealand, blames the state of the pitches across the region.
Ambrose, who took 405 wickets in 98 Tests, told the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian: “A disastrous tour, nothing really went well.
“I’m just hoping that the players and the coaching staff can go back to the drawing board, do some soul searching and figure out a way to start winning.
“It is not so much about coaching, in my opinion, because the guys have got the skills. We just need the coaching staff to instil certain discipline, and passion and pride and commitment in order to get results.
“We need to get back to the days when we were the best team in the world where we had good cricket pitches, where there is a little bit in it for the fast-bowlers, a bit for the spinners and if you’re a good enough batsman, you can score runs.
“The pitches in the Caribbean are terrible, and that’s why when we go overseas and the pitches are bouncing, the players are all at sea. We need to get back quick, bouncy pitches in the Caribbean.”
