WI will do better than World XI

"It’s going to be easy. I’ve played 117 Test matches for the West Indies, so I’m accustomed to that environment," said the star batsman, when interviewed while he was attending a gala fund-raising function for the Children’s Cancer Society in Sydney on Thursday night.

The bulk of the 15-member West Indies squad had arrived earlier in the day in Brisbane, and Lara is expected to join them by the weekend in preparation for the four-day match against Queensland, starting on Thursday at Allan Border Field, followed by the First Test of the three-match series from November 3 at The Gabba.

Lara, who, like so many of the other stellar names, failed to live up to expectations in the ICC Super Series, acknowledged that the International Cricket Council’s latest venture posed challenges not associated with regular Test teams.

"It was tough for the World XI team, with everybody coming from different countries and getting together for such a short period of time," the two-time former West Indies captain admitted.

"I thought it was also a mistake in having two captains for a three-week period. We could have probably done a lot better by naming one leader, and trying to gel the team as much as possible."

Former South African captain Shaun Pollock led the World XI, as they were thrashed by Australia in the three limited-overs internationals at Tesltra Dome in Melbourne.

"The West Indies situation is different," Lara insisted. "I think I can say one thing for sure, it is that the West Indies will perform better than the World XI."

While the Caribbean players are more familiar with each other, several Australian journalists are already taking note of that comment in the event that they have to remind the 36-year-old left-hander of it when the series concludes in Adelaide at the end of November.