ST JOHN’S (Antigua), May 9: Captain Carl Hooper is counting on Brian Lara to lead the charge in the fourth Test against India, starting Friday at the same ground where he scored a world record 375 eight years ago.

India won the second of five Tests in Trinidad by 37 runs last month but West Indies hit back to level the series 1-1 in Barbados with a thumping 10-wicket victory.

“Our best batsman in the side, Brian Lara, has yet to really get going in the series,” Hooper said after a practice Wednesday.

“We are hoping he gets going in this match and in the fifth Test at Jamaica. He can make a huge difference when he’s playing well.”

Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have scored two centuries each in the series so far, but Ramnaresh Sarwan and Lara have failed to reach three figures despite having scored 50 twice.

“Our batting so far in this series has been good, but we haven’t really gone out full steam. There are still a few areas in that department that we can work on,” Hooper said.

The Barbados win was the first for the West Indies in nine Test matches and was hailed as a turnaround for a side that had gone into the match having lost six of their last seven Tests.

But West Indies still have a problem at the top of the batting order, where Chris Gayle and Stuart Williams failed to make an impression in the first three Tests.

Williams has been replaced for the Antigua match by Wavell Hinds and Hooper said he had great hopes from the left-hander.

“Hinds has opened in Australia and he did for the first three Tests against South Africa last year, so it’s not a new position for him,” Hooper said.

“With two crucial Tests left in the series, the selectors want to get people into the side who are in good nick and have experience.”

Hinds, who has played 20 Tests, scored 175 batting at number three for a Busta XI side again India in a three-day side match at St Lucia last month.

Teams (from):

West Indies: Carl Hooper (captain), Wavell Hinds, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Adam Sanford, Pedro Collins, Cameron Cuffy, Ryan Hinds, Dinanath Ramnarine.

India: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Shiv Sundar Das, Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Vangipurappu Laxman, Deep Dasgupta, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Ajay Ratra, Dinesh Mongia, Sarandeep Singh, Tinu Yohannan, Sanjay Bangar.—Reuters