da pixbet： Dileep Premachandran’s preview of Bangladesh’s game against West Indies
da supremo： Dileep Premachandran in Barbados18-Apr-2007
Brian Lara watches a West Indies practice session from the pavilion at the Kensington Oval © Getty Images
South Africa’s demolition job on England killed off any hopes of WestIndies getting back-door entry into the semi-finals, and they now go into Thursday’s game against Bangladesh with only pride on the line. It willhave escaped no one’s attention that West Indies are currently level onpoints with Bangladesh and Ireland, an unacceptable state of affairs in aregion that dominated the game for nearly two decades.For Brian Lara, the tie against Bangladesh will mark his 298th in WestIndian colours and the penultimate step on a journey that started on aNovember day in Karachi more than 16 years ago. It will forever be asource of regret for Lara that for all his individual achievements, WestIndies accomplished little at the five World Cups that he was part of.Apart from the semi-final that Shane Warne stole from them at Mohali in1996, each campaign has been as abysmal as the other.”The two remaining games are of utmost importance to us,” he said on theeve of Thursday’s game. “It’s important that we do start the second round.We still haven’t actually. We want to finish on a high. These next twomatches are of no consequence in terms of the World Cup, but they are veryimportant for us, and the guys are fully aware of that.”The West Indian meltdown in the Super Eights, after they topped theirfirst-round group, has been one of the most disappointing aspects of thiscompetition, but Lara wasn’t interested in playing the blame game. “Thisis not the time for condemnation but constructive criticism,” he said. “Wejust did not play good cricket, we were beaten by better teams on the day.We have disappointed ourselves and our fans.”He accepted, however, that the prime reason for the debacle was thefailure of the marquee players to deliver when it mattered most. “A lot ofour seniors, including myself, have not performed like seniors in otherprominent teams have done,” he said. “The contributions from the seniorsand the experienced players in the reason why teams like Australia, SouthAfrica and Sri Lanka are in the semi-finals.”Several former players were scathing in their assessment of the team’sperformances against the tournament’s best sides, with Colin Croft inparticular pinpointing the lack of intensity at training sessions.According to Lara, such things were par for the course when things weregoing wrong. “There’s no lethargy in the team and the boys are veryupbeat,” he said. “The result yesterday cast us out of the competition.The guys tried their best and have been under a lot of scrutiny lately.Unfortunately, that goes with the fact that we are not playing well.”Bennett King and the support staff have been working really hard, but ourtrainer left last December, and we not had a trainer since. That is nofault of the players. The players are trying their best, but it isdifficult at this time without a professional trainer.”With the pressure off, West Indies will hope to express themselves as bestthey can in front of the disappointed home support. As for Bangladesh, they have already embarrassed India and South Africa, but Habibul Bashar,the captain, brushed off suggestions that West Indies would be an easiermark.”I don’t think so,” he said. “They’re still a good team. For us, itdoesn’t matter who we play. It’s how we play on that particular day. Webeat India and South Africa, but also lost other games quite easily.”That inconsistency ruined any chance of a semi-final place, and the 74-runloss to rank outsiders Ireland was hugely disappointing for a team lookingto kick on after the famous victory against South Africa. “There’s been abig contrast in our performances,” admitted Bashar. “Some days we’re oneof the best fielding sides. Other days, we’re ordinary. It’s veryimportant that we learn to be consistent in all three departments of thegame.”Bangladesh have only come close to beaten West Indies once in 12 attempts,at St Vincent three years ago, but such statistics didn’t really worryBashar. “Before we played South Africa [in Guyana], we had never beatenthem before,” he said. “Winning any game at the World Cup is veryimportant for Bangladesh. We don’t want to be No.8 in the Super Eights.”What is a worry is his form, or lack of it. “As captain, you always wantto do something, to set an example for other players,” he said. “It’simportant for me and my side that I score some runs.”In many ways he might do well to learn from his younger team-mates, who’veshown oodles of confidence – perhaps too much at times – and no fear whenconfronted by illustrious opponents. “Bangladesh are really competitive inthe Under-19s, and the boys think they can win,” said Bashar, when askedabout the impact of the youth brigade. “They have come to this level withthat frame of mind.”It makes for a fascinating contest, a dead rubber with a fair bit atstake. “We have been disappointing,” said Lara. “For Bangladesh, everygame against the Test-playing nations is of utmost importance and we areaware of that. We don’t want to be one of their victims. We want to comeout and play our best cricket. Everyone wants to finish on a high, and wewant to win back the support of the fans.”You sense that it will take more than one win to do that.
