Venue Profile: Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua

India will embark on their journey to the Caribbean to play five ODIs and one T20I against the Windies with the first match scheduled to take place on 23rd of June. The men in blue are coming into this series on the back of a bitter-sweet Champions Trophy campaign in which they qualified to the finals. Although, they lost to Pakistan in the final show down, no one can deny India’s superb performance throughout the tournament.

West Indies, on the other hand, didn’t even qualify to play in the Champions Trophy and their quality of cricket is deteriorating by the day. India certainly are the stronger side going into this series but West Indies have the potential in them to spur a surprise. The Windies will host two ODIs at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium at North Sound in Antigua on June 30 and July 2 respectively.

Let us now have a look at the various details and statistics related to matches played on this ground.

Total number of matches mlayed

This ground has hosted 19 limited over games of which 15 have been ODIs and four have been T20Is. West Indies have played in 11 out of those 15 ODIs and featured in all of the four T20Is. However, their record has not been good on this ground as they have lost most of their matches. Their winning record amounts to just four matches out of the 15 they have played in total with two of those victories coming in ODIs and two in T20Is.

They last played a match on this ground in March 2017 when they lost to England by right wickets in an ODI. The couple of ODIs that West Indies have won at this venue have come against England (2014) and India (2011). Moreover, their two T20I victories also came four years ago against Zimbabwe. So, it has been long since they have won a match on this ground and hence will look to turn their fortunes around when they take on India in the opening encounter of the ODI series.

Average score

The Average 1st innings and 2nd innings score in ODIs on this ground are 237 and 213 respectively whereas the same in T20Is are 136 and 122. So, going by the statistics, this stadium looks like a fairly low scoring ground. Moreover, the statistics also suggest the kind of domination the bowlers have had on this ground in previous matches.

There have only been three instances when a team has crossed the 300 run mark on this ground. Australia in 2007, South Africa in 2010 and England in 2014 are the only teams to achieve this feat. Two of those instances have come while batting first and one while chasing.

Highest score

Gilchrist top scored with a swash-buckling 158 at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium

The highest score ever achieved on this ground is 322/6 by Australia against West Indies way back in 2007. The match was particularly memorable for Adam Gilchrist’s enigmatic innings of 158. He thrashed all the West Indies bowlers all around the park and made batting look easy on that difficult pitch. None of the other Aussie batsmen found it that easy to bat on that pitch as none of them crossed even the mark of 50 runs.

West Indies later were bowled out for a mere 219 runs in the second innings. Brian Lara and Denesh Ramdin were the only West Indies batsmen who showed some resolve with innings of 77 and 52 respectively. Glenn McGrath was the pick of the Australian bowlers with figures of 3/31 in 8 overs. Brad Hogg also had impressive figures of 3/56 while Nathan Bracken also chipped in with a couple of wickets. Gilchrist, without any doubt, was adjudged the ‘Man of the Match’ for his innings of 158.

Meanwhile in T20Is, the highest score is 158/7 by the hosts West Indies against Zimbabwe in 2013. Batting first, West Indies rode on Kieron Pollard’s unbeaten 45 (29) and Lendl Simmons 41 (39) to post a total of 158/7 which was quite high by the standards of this ground. Zimbabwe in reply could only manage a 117/6 due to a clinical bowling performance by the Windies bowlers.

Lowest score

The lowest ever ODI score recorded on this ground belongs to India when they were bowled out for a paltry 146 runs against West Indies way back in 2011. Batting first, West Indies had posted a total of 249/8 in their fifty overs riding on half-centuries from Kieron Pollard (70) and Lendl Simmons (67). The Indian batting later failed to deal with the leg-spin of Anthony Martin as he claimed figures of 4/36 in his 10 overs.

Andre Russell was the other bowler who impressed with a superb bowling spell of 3/16 in 7 overs. India were thus bowled out for 146 runs inside 39 overs and Martin was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’ for his superb spell.

In case of T20Is, the lowest ever score recorded is by Zimbabwe back in 2013 when they crawled to a mere 117/6 chasing a target of 159 runs set by the West Indies. Hamilton Masakadza was the only one who showed some will to fight as he remained unbeaten on 53 (51).

General pitch conditions

The pitch has favoured the bowlers more often than not

The pitch generally favours the bowlers. It has always been the bowlers who have had an upper hand in the previous matches. It’s not that the pitch conditions support only one type of bowling. It has something for both the pacers and spinners. However, the pacers have to rely more on their variations to get the most out of this pitch.

The ball generally holds up after pitching and hence slower deliveries like off-cutters and leg-cutters come into good use. The spinners also get help as the pitch does give them that extra turn due to its dry nature. It is always the batsmen who struggle on this pitch as the ball does not come easily on to the bat. They have to manufacture their own pace with the bat and playing late is the key.

Stadium capacity

After the stadium opened in 2006, it had a decent capacity of 20,000 till the 2007 World Cup. However, the capacity has now been reduced to just 10,000. This ground replaced the highly popular Antigua Recreation Ground as Antigua’s premier venue as limited space at the ARG hindered development of the ground.

Moreover, this ground is at a remote place as compared to the ARG and hence the local people are often reluctant to go and watch a match there. The Windies’ slump in form in recent years has only made it worse.

Average score in last five innings

The average first innings score in the last five innings on this ground has been 250 whereas the average second innings score has been 234. All the five previous matches have been played by West Indies against various oppositions and the hosts have won only out of those five; that too way back in 2014.

The highest score in the five previous occasions has been 303/6 by England in 2014 and the lowest score has been 159/10 by West Indies in the same series that year.