Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Lara hoping West Indies can bounce back from Australian defeat

Thursday, September 14, 2006

by: Gary Smith
Caribbean Net News Sports Correspondent
Email: gary@caribbeannetnews.com

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: West Indies captain Brian Lara is hoping the Caribbean side can bounce back from the collapse they suffered at the hands of Australia in the opening match of the DLF Tri-Nation One Day International Series in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

After a solid start from openers Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle, the Windies middle-order collapsed from 172 for one to a disappointing 201 and Lara is hoping his side can put the defeat behind them ahead of the second match of the series against India.

"It is difficult to comprehend. It is a situation where we were definitely on course for victory and found a way to lose the game," Lara said after the game on Tuesday. "It looked really bad. 172 for 1 and to get rolled over for 201 is not really happening.

"We've got to dig deep, we've still got the series in front of us, we have a game on Thursday, we've got to put this one behind us and that psychological advantage that we had over India we have to continue here," he added.

The Australians are strong team when they come together as a unit, but Lara still insisted that they are not unbeatable, and the West Indies showed them up with the good start they got against them on Tuesday.

"They (Australia) are beatable, we saw today where we were in charge of the game for the first three quarters and unfortunately we weren't able to close it off but you must give them credit for the way they stuck in there," Lara said.

"Six or seven of their top players were on the sidelines today and they were still able to come out with a victory. They are the world champions and it doesn't matter what position they are in they are going to come fighting till the end and they showed that quality today.

"They (Australia) have the winning habit so of course they are going to see themselves winning in any sort of position. You could see they were still confident even though we were on the attack," the Windies captain explained.

Commenting on whether the pitch favoured the Australians when they went to the crease to bat first, Lara said: "First of all I thought it was not a 279-280 pitch. The ball seamed around a bit, we didn't put the ball in the right areas and I think if we could take 30-40 runs off the Australian score we'd be a bit more comfortable.

"(Shivnarine) Chanderpaul and (Chris) Gayle took advantage of some loose bowling by the Australians and put us into a really strong position but as soon as they (Australia) got breakthrough they put the pressure on us.

"The pitch was a bit bowler friendly and it is the sort of pitch that you would like to have the opposition out for less than 250," Lara, the triple world record holder with the bat added.

West Indies will play India in their second match on Thursday at the Kinrara Academy Oval and Lara thinks his side might have a small advantage, having played on the pitch before.

"We've been out on the park, we know what the pitch is playing like and it's nice to have that opportunity. We should have been the victors in this game but we have to put that behind us.

"Hopefully the fact that they (India) haven't played on this surface yet could be advantageous to us but it's still a cricket game and whoever plays well on the day will win."

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