The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : We still have the psychological advantage: Lara

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Thursday, Jun 08, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

We still have the psychological advantage: Lara

Special Correspondent

St. John's: West Indies skipper Brian Lara said the pitch at the Antigua Recreation Ground was the perfect Test match track, helping seamers on the first two days, then the batsmen, and finally the spinners.

He also spoke of how important it was to have Daren Ganga at the end, running for the injured Fidel Edwards.

Excerpts:

On the result: We are going into the second Test with a one-day success and a drawn first Test so we still have the psychological advantage.

On whether India deserved victory: With a lead of 130 runs, we lost Fidel Edwards very early in the game. Corey Collymore was not 100 per cent fit. India took control after that. I would say India did not deserve to win this game because our guys batted very well. You have to get 10 wickets to win a Test and every player fought till the end. I thought it was an exceptional Test match and a great way to end cricket at the ARG.

On Ganga as the runner for Edwards: Ganga was the best option we could choose. He is the captain of Trinidad and Tobago and he knows what is needed out there. The options weren't too many, there were a few injuries in the dressing room but Ganga was the man. His job was not to get runs for Fidel but to marshal the troops out there and be the sort of older and experienced personality guiding the players.

On umpiring standards: I have no comments on the umpires, I think they've got a tough job and the people in authority know what's going on. When you have a guy having to look at the back leg no-ball and a front foot no-ball and running on the pitch and edge and whether the ball is pitching on the stumps at the same time it's very, very difficult. You know it's a job that we should not be too critical of. We'd like them to do their best, we'd like them to be a 100 per cent in every session, but on occasions they're not going to be.

On the Antigua Recreation Ground: It has been tremendous for me. I have held the records here, to score 375 back in 1994 and then 400 in 2004. I'll always remember this pitch and will get some grass and turf off it. It's a tremendous surface for West Indies cricket and it's been here for 25 years. Fortunately, we move on to a bigger stadium (the under-construction Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground) but we will remember ARG for what it's worth.

On Collymore's injury: He is feeling a pinch in his shoulder. He is our top performer with the ball. But I didn't want to put him in a situation where things could turn bad. I opted not to use them (Collymore and Edwards) later on when things were running away from us and backed our batsmen to try and ensure that we didn't lose the match.

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