AMID POOR ticket sales and the likelihood of less than 5,000 spectators, West Indies must turn around a dismal one-day international (ODI) record at Kensington Oval over the past six seasons if they are to keep the Digicel five-match series against South Africa alive after today's third match. Following defeats by eight wickets on both occasions in Jamaica at the weekend, Shivnarine Chanderpaul's team only needs to check the records here to find that they need to pull out all of the stops to prevent the South Africans from wrapping up the series and adding to their 2-0 success in the four-Test series. West Indies have lost seven of their past eight ODIs at Kensington, dating back to the controversial 1999 series against Australia. CHANGE OF FORTUNE NEEDED It is a record which has gone unnoticed by many cricket fans but one that should remind West Indies that they need to have a change of fortunes now. Disappointingly, only 20 per cent ticket sales, representing roughly 2,500 spectators, were reported up until 4:00 p.m. yesterday, according to West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) marketing manager Darren Millien. "We are trying to find out the reasons for the poor sales so far," Millien told CMC Sports. "We hope they will pick up significantly," he added. The last time West Indies won an ODI match here was on April 25, 1999 ­ by eight wickets under the Duckworth-Lewis method ­ against Steve Waugh's Australian side. It levelled a volatile seven-match series 3-3 with the other match declared a tie in Georgetown after a crowd invasion. That win had followed a four-wicket defeat the previous day but it was overshadowed by an ugly bottle-throwing incident after Barbadian opener Sherwin Campbell, later named man-of-the-match as well as man-of-the-series, was adjudged run out after a collision with fast bowler Brendon Julian. DELAYED FLIGHT Play was halted for 45 minutes and it took an intervention by the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers to calm the crowd, with Campbell being allowed to resume his innings. Since then, West Indies have been beaten by Pakistan, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka (twice) and England on a ground long revered as the region's most famous. Both teams arrived here from Kingston at 4:30 a.m. yesterday in the face of sweeping rain after mechanical difficulties prevented their BWIA flight from leaving at the original 2:30 p.m. on Monday. It left them very tired and to such an extent that West Indies did not practise before 3:00 p.m. at the 3Ws Oval, Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, while South Africa also had an afternoon session at the Police ground, Weymouth, in the city. Very heavy showers swept across the island a couple hours after midnight Monday, causing flooding in many areas. It also affected the pitch at Kensington where there was seepage of the covers at the southern end. The head of pitch preparation, Richard Applewaite, said between two and three inches of water had settled on the outfield at the western end near to the popular Kensington Stand when he arrived at the ground shortly after 7:00 a.m.yesterday. But the sun soon shone brightly and with the help of a water hog, the outfield had dried significantly by late afternoon. "There was a lot of water on the outfield and the pitch got a little at the southern end," Applewaite said. "There was a lot of rain but we have worked very hard on the pitch and outfield. The water hog eased us a lot and then the sun came out. Once there is no more rain we will start on time." Applewaite said the pitch was the same used for the third Test against the same opponents late last month. "It's a good one-day pitch," he asserted, while suggesting that the team winning the toss should bowl first. West Indies have made two changes to the squad named for the first two matches. Dropped is Jamaican opener Wavell Hinds, whose form declined dramatically after hitting a double-century in the drawn opening Test in Guyana, while Barbadian left-arm pacer Pedro Collins is injured. They have been replaced by Leeward Islands middle-order batsman Runako Morton and fast bowler Fidel Edwards, a younger brother of Collins. Convenor of the selectors Michael 'Joey' Carew said he expected the option of the quicker bowler gave the team greater wicket-taking capability. "We need to put the opposition under pressure a lot more than we have done in the first two games and with this squad we are looking forward to a positive result," Carew said. Teams (from): WEST INDIES: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Christopher Gayle, Xavier Marshall, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Courtney Browne, Ian Bradshaw, Corey Collymore, Daren Powell, Runako Morton, Fidel Edwards. SOUTH AFRICA: Graeme Smith (captain), Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Justin Kemp, Justin Ontong, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Charl Langeveldt, A.B. de Villiers, Andrew Hall. Reprinted from jamaica-gleaner.com