Derek Pringle reports from Port of Spain, Trinidad. Calypso is the singing journalism of Trinidad and as topical as any newspaper. With the next two Tests about to be played back to back on Brian Lara's home turf, the lyrics all predict defeat for England. Carnival may be the spectacle Port of Spain is famous for, but for the moment cricket is the hot topic and in the music shops that line Prince and Frederick Street, the rhymes were about Michael Atherton's team "getting a good lickin'," on a pitch "that will be kickin'."They may not be far wrong, either. After the fiasco at Sabina Park, the 22-yard strip where the essential business of the game is conducted, has been under the kind of scrutiny normally reserved for flesh-eating bugs. But if Sabina, with its cracks and corrugations was obviously sub-standard, this one, well covered with lush green grass, is also raising a few eyebrows.When grass is left on Test pitches it is usually dead and rolled well into the surface. Here it is live and although the pitch will receive another mowing before play starts this morning, it will still do more than a passable imitation of the verdant Trent Bridge carpet that Richard Hadlee and Clive Rice reigned supreme on in 1981, when Nottinghamshire won the County Championship.Normally, the captain winning the toss would not hesitate to bowl first.

However, that decision will be compounded by the groundsman's action of covering the pitch during the day, a practice normally used to keep moisture in the surface. England did the same thing last summer in order to try to negate Shane Warne. But although England have no one of his calibre, lack of recent rain has clearly made the authorities nervous of the pitch's durability.All of which suggests that both the amount of grass as well as the covering to keep the sun off, are designed to bind it together. If the game goes the distance, the side batting last will not want to chase more than 150.For that reason, winning the toss could be a poison chalice.

If you insert the opposition and do not bowl them out for under 180, any advantage will be turned on its head if the pitch starts to break up, which is what mostly tends to happen in the Caribbean.It is this uncertainty that is preventing the England captain from replacing Phil Tufnell with Ashley Cowan immediately. However, the Essex paceman will surely play alongside Caddick, Fraser and Headley should Atherton decide that England's best chances lie in bowling first - which, if the pitch is not given a close shave this morning, they ought to do.If the surface presents a tricky dilemma, there must be concerns too about England's lack of preparation. Amazingly, the tourists are into their second month on tour, and so far only 13 players have been to the middle. In a bizarre end to frame seven, Ebdon was trailing 52-1, but with five reds and therefore 67 points left on the table, he missed an elementary black to a middle pocket.Ebdon could not disguise his disgust and conceded the frame - even though Bond needed to pot three more balls to leave him requiring snookers. Peter Ebdon found it impossible to combat Nigel Bond in the Benson and Hedges Masters at Wembley Conference Centre yesterday.