Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting (right), speaks with West Indies captain Brian Lara during a practice session in Mumbai yesterday. The teams meet today in the ICC Champions Trophy tournament.

MUMBAI, India (Agencies):

WEST INDIES skipper Brian Lara yesterday said he was not concerned about the pitch at the Brabourne Stadium before his side took on world champions Australia in their ICC Champions Trophy match today.

The strip was widely criticised after the opening Group A encounter between South Africa and New Zealand on Sunday.

"Firstly, you have to play on whatever pitch you're given. There's nothing you can do about it," Lara said. "What's confusing is the fact that New Zealand batted first and didn't put up a total and South Africa batted second and did not do well.

"It's important for the team batting first to put up a good total," he said. "It's up to the people at CCI (Brabourne Stadium) to try and get things improved and the final is here as well. So we hope the pitches will improve.

"It's not the sort of pitch where you can think of 275 or 300 being on the cards. We will be looking to score as much as possible ... analyse the situation as early as possible."

Australia go into the game hot favourites, but Lara issued a veiled warning to the antipodeans: "It's not a surface on which the better team is going to win, it's the team that plays better which will win," he said. "Whatever you do first, do it to the best of your ability and take total advantage of the game at that stage."

He continued: "We have beaten the opposition (Australia) in the last month (in Malaysia) and that's a positive. We are going to ensure that the guys know that and the biggest positive is the fact that the pitch is going to play a part and we are looking to get the better part of it."

Lara added that he and his team had put their big loss against Sri Lanka on Saturday behind them and were looking to adapt as quickly as possible to the conditions. "We are the defending champions and there's a certain style of play that we have to adapt to. The defeat on Saturday had no ramifications on our position in the tournament and that all the teams have started on zero and we are moving forward on that positive thinking. It's a question of having belief in your players."