International Cricket Council Pitch Consultant, Andy Atkinson is in Antigua at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium conducting an intensive two-day workshop for Caribbean curators today and tomorrow (September 6 & 7).

The workshop will take a comprehensive look on pitch allocation, rotation, maintenance, draining, outfield management and will offer technical guidelines for the participants.

“The workshop is timely,” according to Director of Cricket, Richard Pybus, “this workshop should serve to assist our curators around the region with additional information on how to maintain and improve their respective pitches.’

The Director of Cricket added that “in an effort to improve pitches it is important that we have Andy with us. We are taking steps, as we promised, to improve what we currently have so the pitches respond favourably to all formats of the game.”

The Essex-born pitch consultant who has been with the ICC since 1998 has toured extensively to cricketing nations globally. He was last in the region during the World Cup in 2007 and the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010 and returned for a workshop in September 2011.

The workshop has attracted 25 participants from the six regions with Kent Crafton, head curator also participating. The other representatives are from:

· St Vincent

· Dominica

· Guyana

· Grenada

· Trinidad and Tobago

o University of Trinidad and Tobago

· St Lucia

· St Kitts

· Barbados

· Jamaica

· Antigua

The territorial boards are currently preparing their teams for the start of the 4-day Professional Cricket League (PCL), season three, which is set to bowl off Friday, November 11.