Holding slams Barbados pitch

Former West Indies fast bowling great Michael Holding has slammed the Barbados pitch, saying it is the worst he has ever seen in the Caribbeans.

Last week, Aussie skipper Steve Waugh had suggested the proliferation of slow pitches in the Caribbean is undermining the development of young pacemen.

Holding added weight to the argument after watching Jermaine Lawson and Test debutant Tino Best, the West Indies' most inexperienced strike partnership for 70 years, toil in Australia's first innings.

Lawson finished with a flurry to claim three wickets, but the young duo's combined figures were 3-230.

"We have always had slow pitches in Guyana and Trinidad [the venues for the first two Tests] and that won't change," Holding told the BBC Sport website.

"It is a shame the young bowlers haven't been given a proper pitch for them to do their best."

"But the Barbados pitch in this Test match is the worst I have ever seen in this country.

"I just hope this is the last time and we go back to producing good pitches."

Steve Waugh believes it is only a matter of time before Ricky Ponting breaks his new Australian record for Test centuries.

Waugh, in his record 159th Test, hit 115 on the second day in Bridgetown, passing Sir Donald Bradman's mark of 29 tons.

"I think this is a record that I won't have for long. The way Ricky Ponting is going, he should get past this. I am sure that he will take over one day. I am just a caretaker," said Waugh.

Ponting, already Australia's one-day captain and Waugh's expected successor, scored 113 on Thursday -- his 12th century in his 67th Test.

"Personally it's nice to get the hundred. It's a great honour to pass Sir Donald Bradman's record," Waugh went on, before putting the achievement in perspective.

"It's something special for me but I have played 107 more Test matches."

Australian batsman Damien Martyn has been ruled out of the one-day international series in the West Indies due to a finger injury.

Martyn fractured his right index finger during the World Cup and missed the Test series in the West Indies but had been hopeful of recovering in time to take part in the one-dayers.

But a medical review has found that while the fracture has healed, joint stiffness will prevent him from batting for another four weeks.

He will be replaced in the one-day squad by NSW batsman Michael Clarke who is currently in the West Indies with the Test squad.

Martyn says that he has had some time to come to terms with the fact that he will miss the one-dayers but is still disappointed.

England Test captain Nasser Hussain says he hopes his decision to retire from international one-day cricket will have the same effect on him as it did on Steve Waugh.

Unlike Hussain, who announced in March he was quitting limited-overs internationals after England's first round World Cup exit, Waugh was dropped from the Australia one-day team and played no part in the successful defence of its world title in South Africa.

But Hussain said this had left Waugh better prepared for the rigours of Test cricket.

"During the winter I saw Steve Waugh turn up for the Melbourne Test, refreshed and ready to perform after working on his batting in a game or two for New South Wales while the one-day series was going on," said Hussain said.

"He had time to himself while Ricky Ponting (Australia's one-day captain) talked to the media and he came back with a point to prove, which is always dangerous in cricket.

"In the same way I'd like to get back to doing what I wanted to do when a boy -- to play Test cricket for England, not be a national spokesman for everything cricketing,"

The world's most successful Test bowler Courtney Walsh believes the West Indies' dominance until the early 1990s is to blame for the state of pitches in the Caribbean.

Days after Australia's captain Steve Waugh said he feared for the game's health in the region because of the lifeless wickets they are producing, Walsh echoed his former rival's concerns.

The 40-year-old said the pitches in the Caribbean are harming bowlers' development because they are too batsman-friendly.

He added that he believes the West Indian cricket authorities were responsible for the change in conditions because they were concerned that Test matches were finishing prematurely when the local fast bowlers were at their peak a decade or more ago.

"I remember in the days when we used to dominate, they (officials) used to complain the cricket was finishing too early," Walsh said.

"They went back and tried to get the surface to last the five days. Maybe they have gone too far on that.

"I think he (Waugh) has got a valid point there.