West Indies 'embarrassed' says Lara; team manager resigns

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (AFP): West Indies captain Brian Lara said his side was disappointed and embarrassed at the way they have under-performed in the first two cricket Tests against England.

West Indies lost the second Test by seven wickets on Tuesday to fall 2-0 behind in the four-Test series and are in danger of conceding a Test series victory to England in the Caribbean for the first time in 36 years.

The defeat prompted West Indies team manager Ricky Skerritt to resign, but Lara, whose position is also under pressure, was trying to be upbeat.

"Everybody is now looking forward to better things in Barbados and Antigua," Lara told reporters after Mark Butcher hit the winning runs to seal the victory for England.

"The first thing is to realise that we are going wrong somewhere and I think we have done this. I do not think we are divided on the opinion that some are doing well and some are not.

"The entire team knows that we are not performing. We have been doing some soul searching and trying to get that out of the guys. It's great to see we had a long team meeting up to last night in trying to get things right from this point onwards."

Lara believes there is still hope of his side winning the two remaining Tests, starting in Barbados on April 1 and in Antigua on April 10, and squaring the series.

"It's not difficult to understand that we are 0-2 down, but I think we can level the series if we can regroup and ensure that we do not make the same mistakes again," he said.

"I still think there were moments in both Tests, where if West Indies had taken hold of the advantage, we would be in a much better situation. We did not and so we need to find the weak points and try as much as possible to strengthen them."

Lara believes the senior batsmen in the West Indies, including himself, can take an example from England's Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe in the way they have approached batting in the series.

"We are clearly not producing at our optimum," Lara said. "The team gets its impetus from us, similarly to the English team with Butcher, Hussain and Thorpe.

"They have been able to come up to scratch in these two Tests to give their team what they required and we have faltered in that area. We will have to look in the mirror and think that we are definitely the top batsmen in the team and we must perform better than this."

England captain Michael Vaughan said leading the series 2-0 was beyond his and the team's wildest dreams.

"We expected to come out to the Caribbean and win, but it's a great position for us to be in," Vaughan remarked.

"It has taken a lot of hard work to get to this position. Both matches could have gone the other way. There were real tough periods of play in both Tests and we came through them."

Although England have virtually ended their 36-year wait for a Test series victory in the Caribbean, Vaughan was not ready to pat his team on the back.

"We have not won the series yet," he said. "There are two matches left and, as I said, the two in Jamaica and Trinidad could have gone either way.

"We have to make sure we keep working hard, make sure we are not complacent, make sure we keep our heads, and keep gritting it out when the going gets tough and keep getting the odd individual producing the magic' as we are at the moment.

"If we do not do it, the West Indies will come back and will fight hard. We must make sure we keep doing the same things that we have been doing over the last four weeks and, hopefully, the results will take care of themselves."

England won the opening Test in Jamaica by 10 wickets.

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