Allan Douglas Sr, the Bermuda Cricket Board’s chairman of high performance, has been putting in the hard yards to prepare the wickets for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Regional Qualifier next month.

Douglas has spent the majority of his time at North Field working with Paul Harvey with the pitch needing more attention after the ICC moved matches from that venue to White Hill Field after the wicket was deemed to be offering too much turn in 2019.

With the inaugural Bermuda Premier League scheduled to be played next week, as many eyes will be focused on the state of the wickets as on the players .

“It’s really been a big effort and I am trying to grow a lot of grass on this wicket,’’ Douglas said.

“To grow the grass I will be using things like fertilisers and we’re doing a lot of stuff to grow grass. We have all the four wickets available but we really don’t need them. We’re going to have two that are earmarked for the tournament, one for training purposes, and that’s it.

“The BPL will show us how it will play out and we’re going to do the same rehearsal in the BPL as we want in the tournament. For example, we’re having the BPL final on wicket number two and we'll iron out all our issues during the tournament.”

There are less worries surrounding the wicket at White Hill Field, with Douglas keen to pay tribute to the groundstaff there.

“White Hill is nice and hard and they’re just pulling out a bit of weeds to make sure it’s goosegrass and that’s a good indicator that it’s compacted and hard,” Douglas said.

“Shannon Tankard, who is up there with Kevin Smith, are working hard to get it done and Shannon’s going to be there full time all the way through to the tournament. The pitch will be ready because he knows what to do.”

Bermuda coach Niraj Odedra has taken a keen interest in the work being carried out at North Field and has even got his hands dirty rolling the pitch.

“We have facilities in place and a superb outfield that we can use and prepare, which is fantastic,’’ Odedra said.

“I have to credit the BCB and others involved because having those facilities in place helps the players to want to be involved. Now, suddenly, there are a pool of players happy to be playing and eager to be involved which is great to see.

“They can now prepare properly for big games and tournaments and it means they are more motivated and can be committed. There is a new pride for the players to be involved.

“We now have so much in terms of facilities and it is great to see them in use. Having those things in place is also great for the future, not only for the men’s senior team, but for the women and youth teams.

“I always said when I came I wasn’t just interested in sorting out the men’s senior team, I wanted to make an impact for all age groups so that everybody had access to play cricket.”