Top local groundsman Sheridan Raynor has contested legendary West Indies? spinner Lance Gibbs? assessment of the Island?s cricket pitches ? conducted nearly three months after completion of the 2005 season.

During an Island-wide inspection of local venues last month, the Florida resident told : ?I have looked at all the grounds and the major concern has to be the pitches. Youngsters growing up on pitches with an uncertain bounce and the ball going in odd directions are never going to be able to develop the cricketing mind to make it.?

While Raynor agreed that wickets with uneven bounce undermined the development of youth cricketers, the former Southampton Rangers, Somerset Cup Match and Bermuda stalwart yesterday reiterated the natural role worms played in the maintenance of wickets and the importance of an annual top dressing with a sufficient layer of fresh clay .

In years gone by Raynor recalls the likes of Test players Geoff Boycott, Sunil Gavaskar, Imran Khan, Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Charlie Griffiths, Bob Simpson and Gibbs ? on two separate occasions ? all praising local groundsmen for producing ?first class? batting strips with limited resources.

Raynor?s late uncle, Harley Raynor, was largely responsible for the introduction of turf wickets to Bermuda in the 1960s after touring the Caribbean with the all-conquering Southampton Rangers ? then commonly referred to as the Southampton Raynors.

?I must say that I do agree with Gibbs concerning decent wickets, but how can he assess our wickets in the middle of the football season or even class all of our wickets by the one at the National Sport Centre which seems to be the only wicket in Bermuda not playing properly,? said Raynor.

?What I find even more baffling is the fact Gibbs knows otherwise, having played here before on two occasions. He knows fully well because the wickets then played perfect and nobody complained. Now we have a bowler ? not a turf expert ? assessing our wickets in the middle of winter without any knowledge of local conditions.

?I?m even amazed nobody even thought to consult with a group of local groundsmen from the very start. Now all of a sudden they (NSC Board of Trustees) are asking for input from the general public when the first thing they could have done was consult with local groundsmen to find out what could be done to solve the problem.?

Raynor again explained how worms played the role as natural ?binding agents? .

He said: ?What occurs with clay over here is after a certain amount of time the good binding agents settle on the bottom of the surface while the upper layer of clay is exposed to the elements. But worms bring the binding agents back to the surface and then when you top dress the wicket by an inch or so, it?s fine.?

However, the wicket at the NSC, Raynor noted, ?doesn?t have worms in it to turn the clay over?.

?Even if we were to bring in clay from another country a similar thing would happen if you don?t have worm cast,? he added. ?All of the other club wickets have worms and that?s why they don?t have any problems.?

Raynor also spoke out over comments made by leading International Cricket Council (ICC) turf expert Andy Atkinson in late 2004 in which he described the NSC?s pitch as ?more suitable for growing carrots?.

?The fact he (Atkinson) told me in England groundsmen were trying to get rid of worms only demonstrated he doesn?t know their true value and the vital role they play,? he argued. ?Worms overturn the clay and bring the good nutrients to the surface.?

Raynor, who assisted in pitch preparations at Jamaica?s Sabina Park in 1971 for the Test series involving Jamaica and Australia, claimed the NSC pitch had not been properly tended to over the years.

?The last time that pitch had been top dressed was about 18 months before the West Indies arrived here in 2003. I top dressed almost the entire square with fresh clay and Trevor (NSC superintendent Trevor Madeiros) and his staff produced an excellent strip up there and Brian Lara (West Indies skipper) even commended them for doing an excellent job,? he recalled.

?But after their departure nothing was done to the pitch and because it didn?t have any worms to turn the clay over for nearly two years it gradually deteriorated from the elements. And at that stage it wouldn?t have mattered who went up there to prepare that wicket, the result would have been the same because all the binding agents had gone out of the clay.?

Meanwhile, after addressing the media at yesterday?s press conference at the NSC, the Sports Centre?s chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Gerard Bean also spoke out in the wake of Gibbs? recent visit.

?I am not aware of the basis upon which he (Gibbs) made his assessment, but certainly we have our own agenda concerning what needs to be done with the wicket. So I don?t know where he got his assessments from nor am I overly concerned with what he said.?

As for comments Atkinson made last year, Bean said: ?I thought those comments were very inappropriate, comments I am made to understand got him in trouble in London.

?His comments might have been a laughing matter here but I can assure you the ICC didn?t take too kindly to those remarks.?