England plan to contain WI bats

KINGSTON: England cricket captain Michael Vaughan said that containing West Indies captain Brian Lara and his explosive batting lineup will be one of the keys to success in their opening Test today. “We have planned for every single batter that comes out,” Vaughan said. “We’re not just going to target Brian Lara but he is a key wicket, he’s their key player.” England’s skipper, who identified the home team’s top seven as “one of the best in world cricket,” said the West Indies attacking style could work to his team’s advantage.

“I think that’s the nature of their cricket,” the 29-year-old said. “That can also play a huge positive in our makeup. If you bowl dot balls and maidens, you know that something is going to happen around the corner.  That will be one of our plans, to try and keep them contained.” Today’s opener is the first of the four-match Cable and Wireless cricket series. Lara said he was not concerned about his opposition’s strategy. “That’s going to be a big task, to dry up the runs in the Caribbean in these conditions,” the 34-year-old said. “England have their way of going about trying to win this series. We have our way to go about trying to ensure that we win as well.” While the West Indies suffered a setback by an injury on Tuesday that ruled out batsman Dwayne Smith, England were set to receive a boost to their squad.

Left-hander Mark Butcher underwent a fitness test during the tourists’ final training session at Sabina Park and was cleared for action. The Surrey man recovered from a twisted ankle nine days ago in the tour opener against Jamaica at the same venue. Vaughan said he was confident even though Butcher and fellow left-handed batsman Marcus Trescothick missed out on any meaningful match practice in the two warm-ups. “If Butch plays, he’s proven in the past he’s one of those guys who can just come straight into a test match and switch on,” Vaughan said. “There’s not many people who can do that. Trescothick is that kind of player. If he cracks one four, he’s away. He gets his rhythm going straight away.” England have not won a series in the Caribbean for 36 years and Lara conceded that this series would give the visitors their best chance in recent times. But he warned that the record would not be given up lightly. “The guys understand that the situation has been built up over a long period of time and this is a team that does not want to spoil that,” Lara said.
 
Teams:
West Indies (from): Brian Lara (captain), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Tino Best, Adam Sanford, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Ricardo Powell.
England (from): Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe, Andrew Flintoff, Chris Read, Ashley Giles, Simon Jones, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard,  Paul Collingwood, James Anderson, Geraint Jones, Gareth Batty, Rikki Clarke, Andrew Strauss.
Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia), Billy Bowden (New Zealand).
TV umpire: Eddie Nicholls (Guyana).
ICC Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).