Lara eager for England Tests
by Julian Guyer
Thursday, July 8, 2004
LONDON, England (AFP): West Indies captain
Brian Lara said he hoped his side's NatWest Series wins over England would
inspire them for their forthcoming Test campaign.
West Indies' seven-wicket win against England at Lord's on Tuesday saw them
secure a return to the world famous ground for Saturday's final of the
triangular one-day series against New Zealand, who had already qualified.
Lara's men will start a four Test series against England at Lord's on July 22.
It is a chance for revenge after England won the recent Test series in the
Caribbean 3-0 - their first series win in the West Indies since 1968.
But the subsequent one-day contest between the teams finished level at 2-2.
And after seeing his side knock England out of their own one-day tournament,
thanks mainly to opener Chris Gayle's 132 not out, Lara said: "The one-day
series in the Caribbean was a 2-2 draw and we beat England here in two games
out of three. "That's a little psychological
advantage but of course England playing at home, after coming out to the
Caribbean and beating us 3-0, will definitely hold that high.
"It's just an opportunity for us to regroup. We've got a very important two
months coming up.
"We've got a couple of guys coming over in
the next couple of days for the Test series and they are going to be coming in
a great mood knowing that we have done well against England and are in a final
for the first time for a long time. "But
after Saturday we start afresh," added 35-year-old master batsman Lara, whose
one-day team face New Zealand at Hampshire's Rose Bowl ground on Thursday in a
dress rehearsal for the final. "It's a new
series, a Test series. We have faltered in the past in the five-day game and
we are going to try to correct that." Lara
said what pleased him most about his team's recent form was the way they had
not depended on a major innings from him but had seen other members of the
side take a leading role. "I think it's
important that one person alone doesn't have to do it," added Lara who
regained the world record for the highest individual Test score with 400 not
out in April's drawn fourth Test against England in Antigua.
"It's great to see. The guys are coming together. They are getting better with
more experience.
Chris (Gayle) is 24, Ramnaresh Sarwan is
closing in on 24. It's taken them some time but they got into international
cricket very early, at 19 and 20, and we expected them to take time. But now
it's coming to fruition." Tuesday's defeat
for England was the 11th successive one-day international they had lost
batting first, a run stretching back to last year's World Cup in South Africa.
The match also saw captain Michael Vaughan's poor run of form continue with
the 29-year-old opener out for eight. That meant the Yorkshire batsman's tally
from his five series innings was a meagre 47 runs.
"I just haven't played well enough," Vaughan admitted. But he added England
were close to becoming a one-day force to be reckoned with.
He pointed out how Andrew Strauss, who made his maiden one-day international
hundred on Tuesday, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (who scored 123) and fast
bowler Stephen Harmison had all become established in the limited overs side.
"A few months ago we didn't have Andrew Strauss, we didn't have Stephen
Harmison, with the white ball, and we didn't have a world-class all-rounder in
Andrew Flintoff. "If we can sort out the
batting at the top we'll have a real good team."
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