Lara hits TT practice pitches for six

WEST INDIES skipper Brian Lara criticised his home club’s practice facilities and pitches ahead of this weekend’s One-Day Internationals against Australia.

The Queen’s Park Cricket Club, home of the Oval ground, pitches are substandard and lack an adequate run-up for the faster bowlers, partly due to construction work on a stand. “The practice facilities in Trinidad and Tobago are easily among the worst in years,” said Lara, who has been in the game for 12 years. “What we are seeing in first-class cricket out in the middle are pitches which will not breed top-class cricketers,” he said. Apart from the wicket in Antigua, which hosted the fourth and final Test, all of the other regional pitches in the Test and one-day series have come in for criticism for being unresponsive to fast bowlers and are not allowing batsmen to play their shots freely.

Lara is hoping for a good cricket wicket at the Oval this weekend. The West Indies need a miracle to stay in the seven-match one-day series, which Australia now lead 3-0. “We have to come up with two wins. It’s not a matter of if I think we can do it, we have to do it. We have to find the right formula to do so,” he said. The West Indies will draft in wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs, while the tourists who had a light work out yesterday morning will welcome back Adam Gilchrist and pacer Brett Lee. Jacobs took part in a full practice session yesterday after recovering from a groin injury. “I understand that Ridley will be playing (today). It will be nice to have his experience back with us,” said West Indies skipper Brian Lara. Jacobs should offer the shaky West Indies batting line-up some welcome resistance in their lower order.

The West Indies have been focusing on their batting problems after seemingly attainable Australia targets had slipped out of reach in the first and third games. Lara hinted that he could shift his own position in the batting order to give his team more stability. “We have discussed moving me up or down the order. I may bat later because in recent One-Day Internationals we have been running out of steam after 35 or 40 overs,” he said.

Teams:  WEST INDIES (from) - Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara (capt), Ricardo Powell, Carlton Baugh, Ridley Jacobs, Omari Banks, Mervyn Dillon, Corey Collymore, David Bernard, Ryan Hurley. Vasbert Drakes.
AUSTRALIA (from) - Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting (capt), Jimmy Maher, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Michael Bevan, Brad Hogg, Ian Harvey, Andrew Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Hauritz, Brett Lee.