da imperador bet： With pitches and conditions varying from venue to venue adaptation has been the key to success, and West Indies have done that so far
Anand Vasu in Mumbai04-Nov-2006
‘The guys … want to prove themselves as worthy contenders of retaining the trophy’ – Brian Lara © Getty Images
When Brian Lara dropped down the order in the tournament, several eyebrowswere raised. He was, after all, far and away the best batsman in theline-up, and the others had not really proved themselves consistently -Ramnaresh Sarwan aside – to hold places in the middle-order ahead of him.But now, looking back with the ample benefit of hindsight, it has proved amaster-stroke. His controlled 71 against Australia, which set up a win,was the proof that his thinking had worked.Come final, though, there’s a chance that Lara could come up the order -not because the West Indians are trying to pull a fast one, but becausethey have been playing according to the situation all tournament, and thishas been integral to their success. With pitches and conditions varyingfrom venue to venue adaptation has been the key to success, and WestIndies have done that so far.And Ricky Ponting will, by no means, be surprised if Lara reverses thetrend and comes out to bat early in the do-or-die final. “If they loseearly wickets, I don’t think he’ll come in that early. But if they get offto a good start, I think he’ll come higher up the order,” said Ponting.”We saw the game against India when he probably regretted the way in whichhe came so low because the game nearly got away from them. I don’t thinkthey will do that again.”It’s always dangerous to say that a team has turned a corner, or come ofage, because these days it takes just one bad tournament to undo all thegood work done before. But there have been times in the past when WestIndies have been over dependent on Lara, and collapsed in a heap once theopposition got him out of the way. It has not been the case here. DwayneBravo has scored his first ODI hundred, Runako Morton has gone fromlongest duck to unbeaten near-hundred against world champions, IanBradshaw is on the verge of toppling Brett Lee as the No. 1 bowler in theICC rankings . Lara admitted that this team’s resurgence was well oncourse. “It’s been tremendous. All the guys have been supportive,” hesaid. “Some have played 50 Tests and 100 ODIs. There can only be onecaptain at any time, but there must be a group of leaders within any team.It’s not just on the field, but in practice, in team meetings, you have tobe able to see all of that to realise the contribution some of these guysmake. I’m happy with the way the nucleus of this team is coming together.I’m very confident of the immediate future of West Indian cricket. I justhope it does not break down at any point.”
‘Clive Lloyd has come in and we have some good coaching staff but the ultimate thing is- the fact of the matter is – that the guys are believing in themselves a lot more’ – Lara © Getty Images
In this day and age certainly – perhaps it’s been the same all along -cricketers are sensitive to criticism, and calling a team unpredictable isnot always taken well. But Lara certainly didn’t seem to mind the factthat his team were tagged thus. “I love the tag unpredictable, which meansthat no opposition, no matter how strong they are can think that they’regoing to roll us over,” he said. “Of course Australia are the favourites.They’re world champions, No. 1 in the world, going into the match you’d beunwise to think otherwise. We’re looking to excel and carry that throughto the final. The two games where we’ve had hiccups in this tournamenthave both been after we’ve qualified for the next phase.”The Australians, especially in big matches of this kind, have a tendencyof turning up the aggro a notch or two, Batsmen go after bowlers early on,not allowing them to settle. Bowlers get under the skin of batsmen with achirp or two. But Lara did not thinking it was wise to try and fight firewith fire. “I just think you need to play sensible cricket. TheAustralians come and try to impose themselves on any opposition theyplay,” he said. “You have to play intelligent cricket, match them at alltimes, and take that extra step when the right time comes. Playing withflair or attacking cricket is not going to scare the Australians. You haveto play sensibly, put in a good team effort. The smarter team is going towin.”Very early in the tournament, a senior journalist who has watched Lara play overthe years, suggested that there was something different about him when headdressed a press conference. He suggested that the arrogance that camewith youth and stardom had given way to something more mellow. And themanner in which he answered a question on the Ashes – a fairly absurd onegiven he was playing in a big final the next day – saying, “I have a finalto play tomorrow, sorry,” showed that this was certainly a different Larafrom the one of a few years ago, when he might lost his cool a touch. Thebeauty about Lara, though, is that the slowing of reflexes thatinevitably accompanies aging has more than been compensated by thegaining of experience. He can still bat with the same authority andfearless power that he showed all those years ago.The one thing that underscores the change in Lara as a man, though, isthat he talks so little of himself and so much of the team, and even afterattending approaching a dozen press conferences of his this tournament,you don’t get the feeling that it is purely management-speak, like you dowith some other international captains or coaches. “We have grown as ateam, there’s a lot more self belief in this camp,” he said. “Clive Lloydhas come in and we have some good coaching staff but the ultimate thing is- the fact of the matter is – that the guys are believing in themselves alot more and they want to prove themselves as worthy contenders ofretaining the trophy.”