Windies have no fears over ring-rusty Lara by AFP

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Event:

ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 9th March 2007

 

West Indies coach Bennett King dismissed fears over captain Brian Lara's lack of action in the middle and backed the record-breaking batsman to star in the World Cup.

 

The 37-year-old Lara hasn't played since his team's 160-run defeat to India in Vadodara on January 31 where he was run out for three.

 

Since then he was forced to sit out the Caribbean domestic series final and did not bat in the opening warm-up win against Kenya on Tuesday.

 

But King insists the lack of action will not hamper a player with 10,136 one-day runs under his belt.

 

"Within the space of one or two days Brian is usually back to his best because of how much work he has done before," said King.

 

"He has played 16 years, he has a lot of volume under his belt.

 

"He is very keen to play, he is like a spring chicken at the moment. He is jumping out of his seat to play."

 

Australian King added that the final warm-up against India at Trelawny on Friday will be treated as a competitive match as the hosts look to finetune their preparations ahead of their opening Group A matches here against Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

 

"We were disappointed with some aspects of the Kenyan game," King told the Gleaner newspaper.

 

"We have just got to be much tougher; we need better batting and we need to bowl much better.

 

"We are bowling far too many wides - three to four overs worth. That is an area in which we need to improve.

 

"We are also giving up boundaries off the last ball of the overs. We need to start working on finishing our overs properly."

 

Many in the game admire West Indies' dashing array of strokemakers but recognise that the side's weak point is its bowling.

 

King singled out Ian Bradshaw as an example of one bowler who needs to improve.

 

"Bradshaw has not been playing a lot of cricket for Barbados so he is someone that needs work," said King. "He really needs some bowling under his belt so Friday will be another opportunity for him."

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)