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The quality of balls and the quality of bowling from one of their key players are among the concerns of the Barbados team heading to Nevis today for the vital sixth-round Busta match against the Leeward Islands starting on Friday. Duke balls, which are being given a rare outing in a regional first-class competition, have apparently not been able to maintain their hardness over an extended period.

But of more worry to Barbados is the disappointing form of leg-spinner Dave Marshall.

The ebullient Marshall, Barbados' leading wicket-taker last season with 28 scalps, has taken 14 wickets at 31 apiece this year, but his bowling has often lacked control.

"He needs to work on his consistency," team coach Hendy Springer told NATIONSPORT.

"He should be bowling one ball at a time as opposed to bowling five and six different deliveries in a particular over. "He needs to be consistent per ball, moreso than consistently bowling leg-break or googly or flipper or top-spinner. He has those balls, but it is to pitch them and be consistent in pitching them."

The 28-year-old Marshall has caused batsmen some problems, but has seldom delivered a high-class spell in which there were very few bad balls.

Skipper Ian Bradshaw appeared reluctant to use him on Monday's final day of their fifth-round match against the Windward Islands at Kensington Oval.

Marshall came on for his first bowl of the day after the lunch break and sent down just 12 overs in the innings, while young off-spinner Ryan Austin and part-time left-armer Ryan Hinds were each given more than 20 overs in the innings.

"I think that Dave's problem is that he hypes himself up a hell of a lot," Springer said.

"He's probably the real livewire in the team and that puts some pressure on him because he probably expects to get wickets at the same rate that he would get them while playing in club cricket.

"We don't want him to get into that type of mentality when he's at this level, but I'm sure with some time and patience and being taught to settle down a bit and actually bowl in one area for a period of time, that he will get back to a wicket-taking stage."

Springer also expressed concern over the standard of balls used during the competition.

"The first time I came across this quality of ball is when we were practising in Queen's Park a couple of weeks ago and I was surprised at the rate of deterioration," he said.

"It gets soft very quickly and the shine goes away. The fast bowlers have to work really, really hard."

Springer said it was the type of balls spinners would like and he pointed to the fact that the top wicket-takers in the competition were slow bowlers.

Of the seven bowlers who have captured more than 20 wickets, five are spinners.

"They are more a spinner's type of ball. They get old quickly and you can actually grip them and give them a good rip," he said

They contrasted with the Stuart Surridge balls Springer used mainly when he played for Barbados as an off-spinner in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"The ball was a lot harder and it stood up for a longer period of time," Springer said.

Meanwhile, the selectors yesterday retained the same squad of 13 which was used for the last two matches.

© The Barbados Nation