Cricket fans should be forgiven if they shouted “oh no, not again!” when they heard that one of a series of trial matches to select the Jamaica Franchise cricket squad for the upcoming four-day season was abandoned because the pitch was deemed dangerous and unfit.

It’s been 17 years, but many still remember the national embarrassment when a Test match between West Indies and England at Sabina Park was abandoned on the opening morning for the same reasons.

Of course, there are those who will remember other Sabina pitches that were extremely challenging to say the least. Older fans will recall 1976 when, after several of his batsmen were hit by deliveries lifting sharply from a good length, the Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi waved a white handkerchief in mock surrender to call off India’s second innings at 97-5. That left West Indies to win easily by 10 wickets.

Then there was 1968. In the second Test at Sabina Park, cracks in the pitch had opened up so wide that the jocular West Indies fast bowler Mr Wes Hall is said to have warned his slender team mate Mr Lance Gibbs to be careful lest he fall through.

Fun and joke aside though, most will agree that for sheer danger to batsmen facing fast bowling at Sabina Park, the pitch of 1998 is unmatched. The great fast bowlers Sir Curtly Ambrose and Mr Courtney Walsh terrorised England before that game was called off. But even they would have admitted that they were given a fearsome advantage by a bad pitch on which some deliveries reared at the throat and some shot through as low as ankle height from similar length.

Since the art of batting is heavily dependent on the batsman’s judgement of whether to go forward or back, based on the length of the delivery, variable bounce such as was the case at Sabina in ’98 makes the glorious art well nigh impossible and downright dangerous to life and limb.

The case at Sabina Park for the trial match this week was not as extreme as 17 years ago, but there is no doubt that it was a dangerous pitch. As has been reported, several batsmen were hit by fast bowlers on the first day, which must have left the players themselves, coaches, umpires and other stakeholders very apprehensive.

When a delivery from Mr Jason Dawes, arguably the fastest of the bowlers on show, reared from a length to all but decapitate batsman Mr Kemar Marshall in the first over of the second morning, the die was cast.

At the forefront of the mind for everyone watching at Sabina Park on Wednesday was the recognition that the cricket ball can be lethal. None would have forgotten that less than a year ago the Australian batsman Mr Phillip Hughes died after being hit on the back of the head by a bouncer.

It’s clear the pitch for the trial match was under-prepared. It’s probably unfair to blame only the ground staff, especially since anecdotal evidence suggests they did not have enough time to prepare a proper surface.

Obviously, all those in positions of authority, be it Jamaica Cricket Association, Sabina Park Holdings, Kingston Cricket Club or a combination of all, need to make sure everything is done to prevent a repeat of the mess at Sabina earlier this week.