If Brian Lara could choose any island in the West Indies on which to tackle Australia, the favourites for this year’s World Cup, it would have to be Antigua
Andrew Miller in Antigua26-Mar-2007
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If Brian Lara could choose any island in the West Indies on which to
tackle Australia, the favourites for this year’s World Cup, it would
have to be Antigua. The venue of both his world batting records, 375
against England in 1994 and 400 not out ten years later, not to
mention West Indies’ world-record run-chase against the Aussies in
2003; the island with a beach for every day of the year has cultivated
some special memories for Lara over the years. How many of those,
though, would he be willing to trade for a victory on Wednesday?The teams each carry with them two points after their 100% successful performances in the group stages, so the victor of this match will
have one foot in the semi-finals. It will, however, be pastures new
for both West Indies and Australia when their crucial Super Eights
clash gets underway. Lara’s favourite Antigua Recreation Ground has
been bypassed for this tournament, and instead the action will take
place at the newly inaugurated Sir Vivian Richards stadium outside of
the capital, St John.The teams have flown in from Kingston and St Kitts respectively, and
conditions for this fixture are expected to be very different to what
has so far been experienced. Whereas Sabina Park has been
characterised by slow cautious innings-building and Basseterre by
raucous six-hitting, Antigua’s new stadium promises, in Ricky
Ponting’s opinion, a bit of skid for the new ball and then excellent
batting conditions. The bigger boundaries, however, mean that the sort
of run-feast that the Aussies served up against South Africa on
Saturday will only materialise in the event of a bowling meltdown.That turn of events is not anticipated, however. West Indies, despite
the odd display of nerves in the opening match against Pakistan, have
a side brimming with confidence, and the Australians certainly hold no
fear for them. They have been victorious in two of their last four
encounters, in the DLF Cup last September and the subsequent Champions
Trophy (although both of their defeats have come in the finals of the
same competition) while in the Caribbean they have won three in a row
in their last three meetings with Australia, albeit way back in
2002-03.”I think we still have a lot of work to do to match the skills of the
Australia team,” said Lara, revelling in a chance to be the underdogs
for the first time in this competition. “We are dangerous, but they
are more dangerous. They are playing at their best, and I can tell
from the way they are playing that they are here to make it a
hat-trick of wins. They are very confident in their ability.”West Indies, however, need not be in awe of their opponents. With an
attack spearheaded by the pacey Jerome Taylor, and featuring the
versatile talents of Dwayne Bravo and the under-rated spin of Chris
Gayle, it is a line-up far more varied than Australia’s last
opponents, the seam-orientated South Africans, and also far more used
to the sluggish conditions of the modern-day Caribbean. “I am quietly
confident that we can perform pretty well in this World Cup,” said
Lara. “The tournament still has a month left, and it is important to
take each game at a time, and not get over-confident.”
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West Indies’ batting is equally potent. Gayle, who creamed three of
his 15 ODI centuries in last year’s Champions Trophy, has been quiet
so far in this tournament, but he’ll have watched the ease with which
South Africa’s Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers climbed into
Australia’s new-ball attack at Basseterre. But, as ever in West
Indies-Australia contests, there’s one scalp which is going to be
valued just that little bit higher than all the rest.It’s a fact that Lara, who loves the Australian challenge, is only too
well aware of. “It is the thing that actually drives me,” he said.
“The thought that the opposition is going to come after the so-called
key player. That’s the thing that brings a positive response from
somebody like myself.” With scores of 87 and 71 in those two recent
victories, not to mention his innumerable feats of batsmanship down
the years, Australia know that to silence the captain is half the
battle won.Worryingly for Australia, Lara has thrived in the past against far
more potent attacks that the one they are currently relying on. The
likes of Brad Hogg, Shaun Tait and Nathan Bracken do not have the same
ring to them as Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath (circa
1998-99), but Ponting was encouraged nonetheless by the way his men
stood up to South Africa on Saturday. “If we play like we did [then] I
think they’ll have a lot to fear,” he said, “but that is up to us. I
think it will take a performance similar to the one we had the other
day if we are going to beat them.”They’ve won a couple of games against us of late, but in the two
finals we’ve beaten them convincingly. They are a
very good one-day side, they should know these conditions better than
anyone, and will have some great crowd support.” It all points to yet
another battle royale, as the World Cup begins to come nicely to the
boil.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul,
3 Brian Lara (capt), 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne
Bravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Denesh Ramdin, 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Daren
Powell, 11 Jerome Taylor.Australia (probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3
Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael
Hussey, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Nathan Bracken, 10 Glenn
McGrath, 11 Shaun Tait.
