Lara
SOUTH AFRICA, CMC:
WEST INDIES batting star Brian Lara said Thursdays lost to New Zealand at the 2003 World Cup has re-emphasised the fact that the team cannot afford to step off the gas at any point during their matches.
"I thought we had learnt that lesson from our first game against South Africa," Lara wrote in his column in Fridays issue of the Trinidad Guardian.
Lara suggested that the West Indies let themselves down in the field and during their turn at bat.
"Yesterday (Thursday), we dropped a vital catch that allowed New Zealand to add 25 runs that they should not have gotten," Lara said.
"Even so, the 241 runs which they asked us to chase should not have been beyond us. We batted poorly, plain and simple and paid the price, the star batsman added. If we are going to win matches, it is necessary for one of our top three batsmen to take us way into the last ten overs or so.
"Unfortunately, that did not happen. And a score that was more than gettable, proved to be beyond our reach," Lara wrote.
"We usually approach our batting in four parts - aggression, accumulation, acceleration and finish. We were out of sync with all yesterday and really lost our way between the tenth and 15th over," Lara continued.
The former West Indies captain said his own dismissal was a bad piece of judgement on his part.
"I never thought that Lou Vincent would relay the ball to Cairns. I felt it was three comfortable runs and the ball would be looped in from the deep. But Cairns surprised me with his powerful and accurate throw," he said.
The gifted left-hander however praised the batting of Ramnaresh Sarwan (75) and wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs (50) who featured in a stand of 98 for the seventh wicket.
"Having to get eight runs per over in the last ten overs is not a problem if you have wickets in hand. But Sarwan and Jacobs had to take chances and preserve their wickets at the same time. They did well and showed tremendous character something which this team has in abundance," Lara noted.
"I think that there is a general feeling of disappointment but we are not going to allow this game to change our focus, we have already flushed it out of our system and are putting things in place to move on," he wrote.
Lara said he was still confident that the West Indies would be one of the three teams to advance to the Super Six stage and that they will be going all out to ensure it happens.
"With all due respects to the minnows, we have to score emphatic wins against them, since we do not want to face a situation like we did in 1996 when we went out because of run rate," Lara said.
