Pitches in West Indies can be slower; going to turn a bit: Warner on conditions in T20 WC

West Indies is famous for producing some of the best power-hitters in T20 cricket, but Australian veteran left-handed opener David Warner thinks amassing runs in the Caribbean during the Men’s T20 World Cup in June will be a tough ask due to slow conditions and ball turning a bit.

The Men’s T20 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the West Indies and the USA from June 1-29. The last time the mega event happened in the Caribbean, was in 2010 when England beat Australia in the final to win the title.

Though batters have gone slam-bang in IPL 2024, it will be different in West Indies, where the aggregate run-rate has been 7.91 for Men’s T20Is in the Caribbean since 2021. It implies that altering the batting tempo and the right path to get big scores on slow batting pitches will hold the key.

“They (pitches in West Indies) can be slower and they’re going to turn a bit. I don’t think they’re going to be as compact as they are here. I’ve played a lot of cricket over there and played in the CPL. The wickets tend to get a little bit lower and slower. Even when we played there in 2010 (T20) World Cup, the pitches there weren’t high-scoring. That’s when you did need an anchor. Someone like Mike Hussey came out and scored runs for us. He had to come and sort of knock it around.

“Most teams had an anchor in the back-end of scoring their runs. But it’s gonna be completely different there. Add to it, the natural elements as well. There’s going to be predominantly day games, which means the ball will not be swinging because of the timing of matches. At least in India, for first four or five overs, the ball can swing and does make things challenging too. The pitches in Caribbean being dry, the ball will get roughed up and it’s going to spin,” said Warner in a press meet organised by the Delhi Capitals.

The average run-rate of IPL 2024 currently stands at 9.47, which is the highest ever in the history of the tournament. Moreover, the top three scores of this season are 287, 277 and 266, all posted by an ultra-attacking Sunrisers Hyderabad batting line-up.

“The wickets have been very good. They’ve been very flat, very compact and very high-scoring. When you have small boundaries, you’re going to see very high scores. It’s not just Bengaluru (Chinnaswamy) anymore (with a flat pitch). Kolkata (Eden Gardens) is now flat. Back in the day, there used to be turn on offer and you couldn’t get those scores.

“Hyderabad has always been a very good surface. So when you get good surfaces with small boundaries and very good players, you’re going to see high totals. It’s hard for the bowlers because as a bowler, if you pitch the ball up, it goes back over your head and it becomes hard after that first six, which makes it very difficult.

“Also the lacquer on the ball is staying longer and hence it’s not getting chewed up (scuffed up) and hence very little turn on offer. Look at our venue last year. I think there was only one game where there was a 200-plus score (by CSK against DC last year).

“When you get off to a good start and you do have good wickets, you can keep going. The way Australians have approached it the last two years, look at the one-day stuff; we did the same thing. You got 10 overs, so why not try and get 150 (in that phase)? When the wickets are very good, you’ve got to try and capitalize,” elaborated Warner.

In terms of young batters, DC have benefitted from the scintillating knocks by Jake Fraser-McGurk, whose 15-ball fifty against SRH is the fastest half-century of the current season, and wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel.

“Jake’s been very good. We know he’s always had the talent. Abhishek Porel has been outstanding. The opportunity he had in the first game to come out, it was as an impact player (at Mullanpur).”

“He wasn’t even going to play, but because, we’d lost early wickets and then he come out and I think nine balls or something and he got 30-odd, it was something that it can change the game. We saw the other day; he played very well. He’s going to be a very good player,” concluded Warner.