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| March 11, 2007 | Sunday | Safar 21, 1428 |
Lara bemoans chronic collapse
TRELAWNY, March 10: West Indies captain Brian Lara said his team had a chronic problem with batting collapses after they were rolled over for 85 by India in their World Cup warm-up match on Friday.
Lara's side lost six wickets for just nine runs in the middle of a woeful batting display that lasted just 25.5 overs and raised alarm bells just four days before the hosts begin their campaign.
“There is a situation, that I think is a bit chronic, that we are prone to collapses,” Lara told reporters after the nine-wicket defeat.
“But we are not down in the dumps, if you are going to have a performance like that it is better to have it before the tournament starts.
“We know what we have to do,” said Lara who was one of just three West Indian batsman to make double figures with his side's top score of 22.
“It is pretty transparent what happened — we did not apply ourselves. You set yourselves targets and we never got to any of them,” added Lara.
“The collapse was devastating but we have a few days to work on the problem.”
The hosts begin their Group D campaign against Pakistan on Tuesday and Lara said he was hoping for the same reaction he got at the last Champions Trophy.
His side were bowled out for 80 in a nine-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in Mumbai but then four days later, at the same ground, produced a superb victory over World Cup favourites Australia.
“That was a pretty similar performance in the Champions Trophy and on the back of that we beat Australia. This could be a bit of tonic. The guys are fully aware of their responsibilities,” Lara said.—Reuters
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