The Hindu : Sport : Lara has been quite inspirational

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Thursday, Nov 02, 2006
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Lara has been quite inspirational

West Indies now look like a unit that enjoys each other's success, writes Vivian Richards

It was pretty ironical that the pre-tournament favourites, Sri Lanka, and the defending champions, West Indies, were made to play qualifiers for the Champions Trophy. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, they made a quick exit from the tournament, but the West Indians have played positive cricket, and made it this far.

They must have lost a little momentum against England, but they did not play too badly in that game. Most of the West Indian batsmen have had at least one big knock in the tournament, and the bowling, barring the last few overs versus England, looks adequate.

Brian Lara has been quite inspirational because he has played two games even though he was far from fit. The rest of the guys also look far more motivated and involved than they usually do.

The wicket at Jaipur is not an easy one to play on and I guess the team winning the toss will prefer to chase. This might be a good plan for Lara as his slow bowlers Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle have played a crucial role in the tournament. However, I am sure the team management will be monitoring the dew situation every evening before they decide on what to do on Thursday.

The South Africans have a very good one-day team, and their only concern will be the fact that their top order has not done too well in the tournament so far.

One of the factors on their side is their excellent record against the West Indians in the recent past. Their bowling is also in good form, with both Makhaya Ntini as well as Shaun Pollock bagging a man of the match award each.

I would still not write off the West Indies. The team went to India as one that relied heavily on Lara and Gayle. However, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jerome Taylor, Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan and the effervescent Dwayne Bravo have all made their contribution. They now look like a unit that enjoys each other's success rather than a bunch of individuals depending on the stars to perform. If they continue playing like this they will be hard to beat, past records notwithstanding.

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