Lara wants team to look ahead
2005-01-13 14:00
Melbourne - West Indian skipper Brian Lara warned his team to look to the future rather than the past when they take on Australia in the opening tri-series limited-overs match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
Lara said the Windies should avoid dwelling on their surprise win in the ICC Champions Trophy in England last September if they wanted to upset the world title-holders.
"We've got to put that behind us," Lara said here on Thursday.
"I'm almost sure that Australia is not living on their past and we can't as well.
"We are going to be working hard to get on top early and stay on top and win the game."
Lara, who made a brilliant hundred in the West Indies' only victory in their three warm-up games against Victoria and Australia A, also paid tribute to new coach, Australian Bennett King.
"It's good to have young players, having their talent and ability to work hard," he said.
"We have a new coaching staff which is getting the work ethic up.
"It's an exciting time, not just for me, but for West Indies cricket."
The Australians were still tinkering with their final batting lineup on Thursday, although it now seems likely that young up-and-comer Michael Clarke will open.
Clarke had been suffering from a mystery foot injury but passed a fitness test on Thursday and may now take the place of regular opener Matthew Hayden, who is being rested.
But a lingering virus is likely to rule out fellow batsman Simon Katich, who was originally drafted to take over Hayden's role.
If Katich does not play, either Clarke or Damien Martyn will open with run-scoring machine Adam Gilchrist.
"Clarke wants to open and he's done it before - he got a hundred in Zimbabwe doing that so we've got a couple of options there," Australian captain Ricky Ponting said.
"Damien's also done extremely well when he's had a chance to open before.
"(But) Clarke has probably got his nose in front for the opening role.
"It's good to have Martyn and (Darren) Lehmann and those guys in the middle order.
"If we get into early trouble they can shore things up and bat for long periods of time."
Katich will undergo a fitness test on Friday.