Mahela Jayawardene

St George’s: Conditions always play a part in cricket.

Accurately analysing the weather and the state of the wicket and adapting to them has always been one of the finer arts of the game.

Team selections and tactics often turn on the amount of moisture in the air, the thickness of cloud cover or the bounce of the pitch.

With such precise considerations drastically affecting the outcome of matches, however, many teams are unhappy that the wickets at the World Cup seem to be exaggerating them.

Many of the pitches were new for the World Cup and are far slower than those traditionally associated with the Caribbean.

Bowlers have typically been able to make their deliveries swing and bounce for the first few overs of an innings, before the pitch has become more unresponsive.

Winning the toss is always a big part of one-day cricket. But getting to decide whether to bat or bowl first has assumed hugely inflated significance at this World Cup, often making games predictable from the start and denying fans a true contest.

Now the stakes are even higher for the semi-finals in Jamaica and St Lucia.

“The team that plays the best cricket on the day should win the game, not the guys that win the toss,” said South Africa allrounder Jacques Kallis, whose team plays Australia in St Lucia on Wednesday.

South Africa’s Super Eight match against New Zealand was one of the most drastically affected games and Black Caps coach John Bracewell felt similarly.

“Seventy per cent of the game can rely on the toss,” Bracewell said.

There are three wickets in the centre of the field at the new Grenada National Stadium, and that match was the third to be played on one of them.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming won the toss and elected to bowl first, the less common decision in one-day cricket generally.

The early 9:30 am start and cool, breezy conditions meant the ball moved around dramatically for pace bowlers Shane Bond and James Franklin, reducing South Africa to two for three wickets.

South Africa were never able to recover and lost by five wickets.

“It’s frustrating that conditions play such a big role in the game,” Kallis said. “The toss was vital. The first 20 overs, it was probably a green Test wicket and that killed us up front.”

The conditions would not be so bad if they were more predictable.

At the same stadium two days earlier, New Zealand had elected to bat first against Sri Lanka expecting the pitch to deteriorate throughout the game and offer bowlers more assistance as the game went on.

Instead, New Zealand struggled to 219 for 7 and Sri Lanka easily won by six wickets.

“The wickets change their character a little bit as they’re being used,” Bracewell said. “We were all surprised how slow that one was and how little it did for a short space of time.

“It only swung for Shane (Bond) for about an over and a half.”

The problems largely stem from the newness of the wickets. Often at brand new stadiums, such as Grenada National Stadium and Antigua’s Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, the pitch has never hosted matches before the tournament and had no chance to bed down.

Several players have sustained injuries — most notably calf and ankle — from the pitches.

“These fields are very draining,” South Africa captain Graeme Smith said. “A lot of these fields are new grounds so they’re sand-based and it does take a lot out of you.”

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is looking forward to getting to Jamaica’s Sabina Park for his team’s semi-final against New Zealand.

“We like bouncy wickets. Like any other cricketers in the world, our batsmen love to play on bouncy tracks when the ball is coming onto the track,” Jayawardene said. “Obviously it’s very hard for batsmen to score runs when it’s not coming on. (AP)