Describing himself as an eternal optimist West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara said yesterday that his team was in a crisis situation and challenged his players to get out of what he described as a deep hole.
By Valentino SinghLara was speaking a day after the hosts lost their third consecutive match in the Super Eights, going down to Sri Lanka by 113 runs.
The result followed losses to Australia and New Zealand but Lara said that while the players were all very disappointed at the outcome so far, they possessed the ability to bounce back and win their next three games.
“I am an eternal optimist, I am not looking behind, I am looking forward and I think that we can win those three games and be in with a chance of reaching the semifinals. We have to regroup and see how best we can salvage the rest of the tournament.”
Lara said the players will remain in Guyana to watch some of the other games before heading to Grenada where they will play South Africa on Sunday.
Lara said the West Indies had a good start against Sri Lanka but allowed the game to be taken away by Sanath Jayasuriya, who made 115, his 25th One-day century.
“After 15 overs, I felt that we had done very good. They were 50 for two, but he took the game away from us with an exceptional innings. When you consider that he is in his 38th year, then you really have to appreciate his performance.”
He paid tribute to both Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who hit a 110-ball 76 and has been the leading batsman on the West Indies team so far, and Daren Powell who bowled ten overs for 38 runs in taking two wickets.
“We were always under pressure after losing those three quick wickets but Shiv kept us in the game with another good innings.”
Lara said that Powell continued to improve. “His first spell which went for just 13 runs of six overs was really good.”
The champion West Indies batsman said that the team’s management now had to ensure that the team spirit was lifted.
“We had to see some light at the end of the tunnel, not darkness.”
Lara called on the West Indian fans to support the team to the very end.
“We know everyone is disappointed but we must stay upbeat. If the belief that we could go all the way was there at the beginning, it should not diminish. We want the fans to continue supporting us.”
He noted that Sri Lanka still had to play several tough teams such as Australia and New Zealand.
“We have them out of the way. But the important thing is for us to win the next three games, if we do not win them, it will not matter what the other teams do.”
