West Indies, with star batsman Brian Lara at the helm, will be seeking to redeem prestige when the team takes on England in the crucial Second Test of the Cable and Wireless series, starting at 10.05 am today at the Queen?s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain...
News Source: Trinidad Guardian
The Caribbean team suffered an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat in the opening match of the Four-Test contest, being beaten within 10 sessions at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica.
However, skipper Lara was in an upbeat mood yesterday, saying quite a lot has been discussed about the Sabina Park debacle and the players have realised the areas in which they went wrong.
?First of all, we recognised that we did pretty poorly on the fourth day. Also, we recognised the fact that for the first three days of the match, it was quite even; so we take that as a kind of positive into this game,? Lara said.
The left-handed batsman said the team is very intent on levelling the series in T&T.
He added the pitch at Queen?s Park Oval always favours a result and his team would like to be the one to win the Second Test.
Lara said together with coach Gus Logie, a lot of work has been done in terms of getting team spirit back to where it was before the First Test disaster.
Lara said the little finger of his right hand is still very sore but it should not affect his participation in the important match.
He said it is always a special moment for him when he plays in front of his home crowd and noted that it was only last year that he was able to score a century at the Oval.
?Results in Trinidad over the the past few years haven?t been favourable to us. We lost to India, South Africa, Australia ... Zimbabwe ran us close. So it is a situation where the team will look to turn things around in terms of results. We need to,? Lara added.
The West Indies selectors have made one change to the Test team, replacing injured fast bowler Fidel Edwards with left-arm pacer Pedro Collins.
Dwayne Smith, who scored a century on his debut against South Africa, has recovered from a dislocated finger which ruled him out of the series opener.
Young, highly promising local players Dwayne Bravo and Ravi Rampaul ? the latter having already represented West Indies ? have been named in the squad as emergency fieldsmen.
England captain Michael Vaughan has warned his players against a possible backlash by the home team, who will be looking to bounce back after last week?s embarrassment.
?We?re 1-0 up and if we can have a good first day and try and get another psychological edge over West Indies it?s going to be crucial,? he said.
?We?ve got a bit of an edge, but you just need to look at England a few years ago being bowled out for 46 and going on to win the next match in Barbados.?
Vaughan believes the prospects look good for another very exciting Test match, but his side must not take the challenge lightly.
?The two days after the win in Jamaica were fantastic, but as soon as we got off the plane in Trinidad the focus was purely on the next game,? he said.
?We try to forget and just put that into the cupboard that we are leading 1-0. We?re just trying to focus on this match and, hopefully, the team will respond.?
England is expected to field the same players who were victorious at Sabina Park.
Former West Indies Test opening batsman Bryan Davis, now a cricket administrator of Queen?s Park Cricket Club, supervised the preparation of the pitch. He said he expects it to last the full five days.
?There was much time and good weather to prepare the pitch. It will be very competitive.The batsmen will make runs if they apply themselves and have the proper technique. The bowlers will get the necessary results if they put out the extra effort,? Davis said.
SQUADS:
West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Tino Best, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Adam Sanford, Ricardo Powell. Emergency fieldsmen ? Ravi Rampaul & Dwayne Bravo.
England: Michael Vaughan (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe, Andrew Flintoff, Chris Read, Ashley Giles, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, Steve Harmison, Gareth Batty, Paul Collingwood, James Andeson, Rickki Clarke, Geraint Jones.
Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia), Billy Bowden (New Zealand).
TV Umpire: Eddie Nicholls (Guyana).
Originally published in The Trinidad Guardian on March 19, 2004
Match Referee: Mike Proctor (South Africa).
