AS they were reliably advised, the West Indies have found a pitch at the Queen's Sports Club here for tomorrow's start to the second Test almost identical in appearance to that on which they staggered to an embarrassing draw in the first in Harare on Saturday.
It is hard and dry and, for some reason, covered for much of yesterday afternoon in warm sunshine under a cloudless sky.
They are factors ready-made for the influence of spin as the match progresses, just as Harare was for Zimbabwe's orthodox left-armer Ray Price and even their occasional off-spinner Trevor Gripper, another one of his type in world cricket at present with a dubious, bent-arm delivery.
The knowledge that Saqlain Mushtaq's off-spin claimed seven for 66 and three for 89 in Pakistan's 10-wicket victory in the last Test played on the ground a year ago is a further guarantee that Omari Banks will return to the West Indies' eleven. Banks is no Saqlain. He is a tall, 21-year-old novice off-spinner with nine expensive wickets in his three previous Tests. But he is quickly learning his art and is one of the emerging young West Indians with the temperament necessary for the game at the highest level. A stomach virus at the start of the tour so debilitated the tall Anguillan he was ruled out of the first Test. Whether he would have been chosen is not known but the attack, down to three main bowlers when Jerome Taylor sprained his lower back injury midway through the first day, lacked the variety he would have offered. And his level-headed batting might well have saved frayed nerves on the final day. While Price wheeled away for a combined 75.2 overs in Harare and Gripper goaded Ramnaresh Sarwan into his mental aberration in the second innings when the only option was to try to save the match, the West Indies could only call on Chris Gayle's straightforward, if not exactly straight, off-breaks. Banks would be a straight swap for Taylor, the 19-year-old Jamaican who has been cleared to play again but is hardly likely to be risked for a five-day Test even though he bowled in the nets yesterday.
The shaky form of three key batsmen in the top order is enough to eliminate another option - an attack of four fast bowlers and Banks. The combined dismissed Sri Lanka for 208 and 194 on the way to victory in the second Test at Sabina Park last June but, for all Banks' batting potential, it is not a realistic choice for a team that required its lower order to avoid the follow-on in the first Test and the last pair to avert defeat in the second.
Chris Gayle, captain Brian Lara himself and Ramnaresh Sarwan were all clearly below their best in Harare, even though Lara's second innings was cut off by an umpire who disregarded the principles of angles when he ruled him lbw.
If Lara himself misjudged the line, the right-arm Heath Streak's delivery was from over the wicket to the left-hander and lacked the sharp inswing that would have taken it into the stumps.
Since his match-winning, unbeaten 80 against Sri Lanka in late June, Lara hasn't had a half-century in his couple of club games in Barbados, in a trial in Trinidad, in five innings in the Red Stripe Bowl and in the two innings here. This Test is as opportune a time as any for him to show his best side to Zimbabwe against whom he is playing for the first time. Gayle enjoyed a prolific tour the last time the West Indies were here.
He scored 259 not out, 164 and 99 in the warm-up matches that were a prelude to his first Test hundred, 175, at the Queen's Sports Club against an attack including Streak, Price and Andy Blignaut who were so threatening in Harare last week. He came to Zimbabwe with an average of 29 in his previous four Tests in the Caribbean last season and looked out of sorts in the first Test, especially against Streak's swing.
Sarwan has lacked some of the certainty of his footwork on which his success is based. He was outfoxed by Price in the first innings in Harare when he was lbw on the back foot and lost his head, and his wicket, stumped to an abominable stroke off Gripper in the second. All three are critical to the batting. With a decisive Test over the next week and the long road to come in South Africa, they need to get firing soon.