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| Underdogs on home soil © AFP |
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If Brian Lara could choose any island in the West Indies on which totackle Australia, the favourites for this year’s World Cup, it wouldhave to be Antigua. The venue of both his world batting records, 375against England in 1994 and 400 not out ten years later, not tomention West Indies’ world-record run-chase against the Aussies in2003; the island with a beach for every day of the year has cultivatedsome 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 willhave one foot in the semi-finals. It will, however, be pastures newfor both West Indies and Australia when their crucial Super Eightsclash gets underway. Lara’s favourite Antigua Recreation Ground hasbeen bypassed for this tournament, and instead the action will takeplace at the newly inaugurated Sir Vivian Richards stadium outside ofthe capital, St John.The teams have flown in from Kingston and St Kitts respectively, andconditions for this fixture are expected to be very different to whathas so far been experienced. Whereas Sabina Park has beencharacterised by slow cautious innings-building and Basseterre byraucous six-hitting, Antigua’s new stadium promises, in RickyPonting’s opinion, a bit of skid for the new ball and then excellentbatting conditions. The bigger boundaries, however, mean that the sortof run-feast that the Aussies served up against South Africa onSaturday will only materialise in the event of a bowling meltdown.That turn of events is not anticipated, however. West Indies, despitethe odd display of nerves in the opening match against Pakistan, havea side brimming with confidence, and the Australians certainly hold nofear for them. They have been victorious in two of their last fourencounters, in the DLF Cup last September and the subsequent ChampionsTrophy (although both of their defeats have come in the finals of thesame competition) while in the Caribbean they have won three in a rowin their last three meetings with Australia, albeit way back in2002-03.”I think we still have a lot of work to do to match the skills of theAustralia team,” said Lara, revelling in a chance to be the underdogsfor the first time in this competition. “We are dangerous, but theyare more dangerous. They are playing at their best, and I can tellfrom the way they are playing that they are here to make it ahat-trick of wins. They are very confident in their ability.”West Indies, however, need not be in awe of their opponents. With anattack spearheaded by the pacey Jerome Taylor, and featuring theversatile talents of Dwayne Bravo and the under-rated spin of ChrisGayle, it is a line-up far more varied than Australia’s lastopponents, the seam-orientated South Africans, and also far more usedto the sluggish conditions of the modern-day Caribbean. “I am quietlyconfident that we can perform pretty well in this World Cup,” saidLara. “The tournament still has a month left, and it is important totake each game at a time, and not get over-confident.”
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| ‘It will take a performance similar to the one against South Africa if we are going to beat them’ © Getty Images |
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West Indies’ batting is equally potent. Gayle, who creamed three ofhis 15 ODI centuries in last year’s Champions Trophy, has been quietso far in this tournament, but he’ll have watched the ease with whichSouth Africa’s Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers climbed intoAustralia’s new-ball attack at Basseterre. But, as ever in WestIndies-Australia contests, there’s one scalp which is going to bevalued just that little bit higher than all the rest.It’s a fact that Lara, who loves the Australian challenge, is only toowell aware of. “It is the thing that actually drives me,” he said.”The thought that the opposition is going to come after the so-calledkey player. That’s the thing that brings a positive response fromsomebody like myself.” With scores of 87 and 71 in those two recentvictories, not to mention his innumerable feats of batsmanship downthe years, Australia know that to silence the captain is half thebattle won.Worryingly for Australia, Lara has thrived in the past against farmore potent attacks that the one they are currently relying on. Thelikes of Brad Hogg, Shaun Tait and Nathan Bracken do not have the samering to them as Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath (circa1998-99), but Ponting was encouraged nonetheless by the way his menstood up to South Africa on Saturday. “If we play like we did [then] Ithink they’ll have a lot to fear,” he said, “but that is up to us. Ithink it will take a performance similar to the one we had the otherday if we are going to beat them.”They’ve won a couple of games against us of late, but in the twofinals we’ve beaten them convincingly. They are avery good one-day side, they should know these conditions better thananyone, and will have some great crowd support.” It all points to yetanother battle royale, as the World Cup begins to come nicely to theboil.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul,3 Brian Lara (capt), 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 DwayneBravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Denesh Ramdin, 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 DarenPowell, 11 Jerome Taylor.Australia (probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 MichaelHussey, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Nathan Bracken, 10 GlennMcGrath, 11 Shaun Tait.