England hard-pressed in WI

LONDON: West Indies, so dismal abroad, usually manage to regroup in front of their demanding home supporters in the Caribbean islands. For this reason alone, a moderate England side will be hard-pressed to force their first series victory over the West Indians away from home since 1968. The England side left London yesterday for a four-Test series opening in Kingston, Jamaica, on March 11. Under coach Duncan Fletcher and former captain Nasser Hussain, England rediscovered their old fighting spirit and became a difficult side to beat. With Michael Vaughan now in charge they need to extend their ambitions and seize the initiative from the start on small grounds with short boundaries. “Over the past few years we’ve always been slow starters on big tours and it’s important we start very, very fast,” said Vaughan in his final pre-tour news conference on Tuesday.

England should score plenty of runs against a West Indies’ attack without a single world class bowler. They will find it altogether harder to bowl out the opposition twice. Their biggest obstacle is, inevitably, the opposing captain Brian Lara. Lara has a particular relish for English bowling. He averages 65.26 against England (75.94 in the Caribbean) compared to an overall average of 52.33 and scored his then world record 375 against Michael Atherton’s 1994 side.  In his second stint as West Indies’ captain, Lara has averaged 72.05 for a side who lose more games than they win. “I take all opposition seriously,” Lara said in an interview in the latest edition of The Wisden Cricketer. “But it is no secret that defeating the former colonial masters means a lot to the people of the Caribbean. “Our players need to be aware of the depth of that feeling before the First Test in Jamaica. Losing the Wisden trophy three years ago in England was a terrible experience. We have to get it back.”

At 34 Lara is now an elder statesman, comfortable in his role as captain and determined to fulfil the talent he at one stage seemed intent on dissipating. Due to the indiscipline of their bowlers and their shoddy fielding, West Indies were well beaten in their most recent series in South Africa. But they still scored eight centuries with Dwayne Smith blasting a 93-ball century on his debut in Cape Town. Opener Chris Gayle is another player looking to score off every ball and vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan has scored four Tests centuries in little over a year. “I look at our team and their team and there is experience in the batting but inexperience in the bowling,” Vaughan added. Steve Harmison and Simon Jones, recalled to the England side after a successful “A” tour of India, have raw pace, although Vaughan sounded a note of caution on Tuesday. “Steve Harmison missed out in Sri Lanka through injury and Simon has not played international cricket for a long period,” he said.

Both sides will probably be best off trusting to their natural instincts. For West Indies this will mean attacking the bowling from the start, scoring as many runs as fast as possible to place maximum pressure on the opposition. England need to score heavily as well while relying on cunning, discipline and the eternal verities of line and length on pitches which these days tend to be slow with uncertain bounce. And they need also to counter Lara. “No doubt throughout the four-Test match series he will have a day when he might get on top of us,” Vaughan said. “It’s about making sure we go in with the right plans, sticking to those plans and trying to unsettle him.”