da dobrowin： Brian Lara has lifted his game ever so many times when up against the bestin the world. He was hoping his team would do just that as they take onAustralia at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai
Cricinfo staff17-Oct-2006
‘The pitch is going to play a part and we are looking to get the better part of it – Lara © Getty Images
Brian Lara has lifted his game ever so many times when up against the bestin the world. He was hoping his team would do just that as they take onAustralia at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Speaking at a pre-matchmedia briefing he said, “We have beaten the opposition [Australia] in thelast month and that’s a positive. We are going to ensure that the guysknow that and the biggest positive is the fact that the pitch is going toplay a part and we are looking to get the better part of it.”Lara did not place too much stress on the pitch, which has come in forplenty of criticism in the wake of the South Africa-New Zealand match.”Firstly you have to play on whatever pitch you’re given. There’s nothingyou can do about it,” he said. “What’s confusing is the fact that New Zealand batted first and didn’t put up a total on the board and SouthAfrica batted second and did not do well.”At the same time, Lara stressed on the importance of playing smartcricket. “It’s important for the team batting first to put up a goodtotal. It’s up to the people at CCI (Brabourne Stadium) to try and get things improved and the final is here as well. So we hope the pitches will improve,” he said.”It’s not the sort of pitch where you can think of 275 or 300 being on thecards. We will be looking to score as much as possible, analyse thesituation as early as possible.”Interestingly, Lara also said the pitch was not necessarily one where thebetter team would win. “It’s not a surface on which the better team isgoing to win, it’s the team that plays better will win,” he said.”Whatever you do first, do it to the best of your ability and take totaladvantage of the game at that stage.”Lara added that he and his team were putting the thumping loss against SriLanka behind them and looking to adapt as quickly as possible to theconditions before them. “We are the defending champions and there’s a certainstyle of play that we have to adapt to. The defeat on Saturday had noramifications on our position in the tournament and that all the teamshave started on zero and we are moving forward on that positive thinking.It’s a question of having belief in your players.”