Curators from the leading cricket grounds in the Caribbean will attend a two-day workshop to be held in St. Lucia on Wednesday and Thursday.

The workshop is part of the West Indies Cricket Board's attempt to increase the knowledge and skills of the region's curators ahead of the 2002 West Indies first-class and international cricket season that opens with the Busta Series on January 25.

"The aim of the workshop is to review pitch preparation techniques as it relates to preparing the kind of surfaces that will meet acceptable international standards," said Gregory Shillingford, chief executive of the WICB.

Shillingford added the workshop, to be attended by close to 20 curators from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago and Windward Islands, has six main objectives.

"We want to review the quality and standards of pitches used in last year's regional and international competitions," he remarked.

"We also want to decide on the kind of preparation techniques that need to be employed to achieve acceptable standards and review pitch covering procedures."

"And we will also examine the application of new equipment and materials being used, devise strategies appropriate to our conditions and development demands, and discuss any other matters relevant to the preparation of pitches in the West Indies."

Shillingford, Michael Seepersaud, the WICB's chief development officer, Maurice Foster, the former Jamaica captain and West Indies batsman, now chairman of the WICB's grounds committee, and Richard "Prof" Edwards, the former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler, now head curator at Bridgetown's Kensington Oval, will be the principal speakers at the workshop.

The highlight of the workshop for the curators will be field trips to the Cap Estate Golf Course and the Boursejour Cricket Stadium, the newest addition to the regional circuit which will be christened during India's visit to the Caribbean they play a Shell Academy XI in a warm-up match.

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