West Indies captain Brian Lara is confident his team can put the 2-0 Test series defeat aside and give a good showing in the upcoming five-match ODI series against Pakistan.

Lara spoke with the media after the third and final Test match against Pakistan in Karachi.

Following are excerpts from his comments. Full Story

The sooner this guy retires the better we will be

In reply to Banner Agree with you..but damn, he keeps making freaking runs....

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
We are not? We are so far down when we look up we still see bottom.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com Its a pity Lara cannot come out and say what he really feels. He is saddled with a bunch of below average slackers, with a few exceptions.

Wesley

In reply to Banner

Yep a bunch of mediocre players will suddenly come good.

One is only as good as the opposition allows one to be

and hence the reason for not closing out tests (very few opportunities anyway)

and the opposition does close it out vs us.

Overall, we are a BAD test team

Lara can't lead....Lara can't follow...

What should we do wid Lara...?

In reply to xyberkidd

I see yuh run from yuh own thread of lies. :roll:

In reply to dax

There you have it, directly from the "horse's" mouth; we always seem to be turning the corner and then we take 3 steps back.

It must be a very sad feeling indeed when a leader cannot motivate a bunch of talented players beyond mediocre performances.

Whom do we blame? Where does the buck stop? Can a man fetch water in a basket? In the final analysis it seems like Lara's magic cannot turn the tables for us. He is suffering from the West Indies captaincy syndrome of the last 16 years. Talent alone is not enough. Individual performances alone are not enough.

The team has to play as a team, That is the only way we can move upwards. We cannot continue having only 1 or 2 or of players put in outstanding performances alone. We need them all to be consistent a la Yousuf, Ponting, KP, and Lara himself before we can start winning.

In reply to anandgb

True words. We need consistent playes like KP, MO Yo, Lara, Sachin and Ponting. But where do we get from them?? That is the puzzle that no one is able for solve for a long time now

In reply to Pacy We do have batsmen who are capable. But take a look at all teh crap that these youngster have had to put up with in the last 3 years and you will get your answer.

It is key to note that Lara and Shiv are teh only 2 who have been able to rise above all the diputes and that is because they were performers before all teh crap started happening.

wi will win the odi's...no doubts abt that.

In reply to Banner

another jackass of the week, all of sudden when lara retires, all those medicore players will become world class? the windies will start winning again?

In reply to anandgb

Not Really Anand. Even though I see raw talent I will say there is none in the WI setup apart from Lara, Chanders, Sarwan and Gayle with the passion that will take them far up.

I had been closely following every match a WI regional team / A team plays and I had not seen one Player put his hand up and say that I am ready. I do not see Double centuries, Consistent 100's. No 5fers, 10 per match.

we keep arguing about who scored more while actually they had made only 60's and 70's or 3wickets / 5 in a match. When a batsman cannot concentrate to score big at the FC level consistently he can not translate that into the Highest level. a 60-70 here (that too incinsistently) will be just 30-40 at the highest level. THat is what we are seeing now. All players capable of scoring 20-40 while at the end of the day the team score is no where competitive.

Management is really piss poor. They Lack vision but I do not see any standout player who is getting shafted.

In reply to terminator You really should stop calling others jackasses you know.

In reply to anandgb

what made you come to that conclusion? this has nothing to do with the captaincy or the lack of it. Lara's magice can only do so much as the man is human just like you and me.


The problem here is the system and how rock bottom it is, the system we have in this region have remained stagnant or even gotten worse over the last 20 years. Its anything but a finishing school for our upcoming players and also the developmental aspect of a player's game.

Its no secret why a guy like Hussey can just walk into the australian side and just dominate from the outset.

The Aussies have the development system in place together with the coaching for all their players , from school leagues, to State cricket and Test Cricket.

There lie our problem. The system for proper development of our players was never in place and it still isnt.

Years after lara retire , wat will you say is the problem then? Not enough of sarwan's magic?

Until we have a proper system in place and the administrators in this region change their attitude towards administering the game in the way that is should be, captaincy is the least of our problems.

In reply to terminator

I feel there should be a wholesome process. Starting with the coaching,Facilities, Pay, Benefits, Longer FC season with Relly really good wickets.

Untill the FC system is developed to the standards that SA / Aus / Eng have we can only hope and select. Since it is just like a lottery.

Instead of learning the trade to the fullest and compete with international teams Most of our players are learning on the job which is the worst part.

In reply to terminator

I feel there should be a wholesome process. Starting with the coaching,Facilities, Pay, Benefits, Longer FC season with Relly really good wickets.

Untill the FC system is developed to the standards that SA / Aus / Eng have we can only hope and select. Since it is just like a lottery.

Instead of learning the trade to the fullest and compete with international teams Most of our players are learning on the job which is the worst part.

In reply to Pacy

the main problem here is funds, the WICB has a really good habit of making it disappear , from the days of the 40 mil skysports deal , to this recent digicel scandal , to not so long ago of trying to sell the players rights and rob them of their own money.


These jackasses who run our cricket are the ones to blame.


For a longer FC season , we need funds, we need upgrading of facilites, better coaching , they had all the money to pay them foreigners from australia , BK and his crew, get all the nice bells and whistles that coming with a coaching staff like that and no facting bowling coach?


Allyuh see where I going with this.

To all please take note.....

Lara in the dressing room and behind the scenes causes so much dis-harmony

There is no doubt the man can play, and is one of the best in his era...

But all is not well within the camp, and he is to blame

How many of you cited the same reasons for debacles during Shiv's tenure and NOT blame Shiv alone?

Banner, I have to say yuh full of shite!

Remember, Lara took a brief retirement from ODIs.

Post de WI record during that "retirement", go one I dare yuh.

Now tell me if that represents any improvement.

Banner I don't agree wid yu about west indies becoming better with lara's retirement. If you expect a team like west indies to become better overnight in the test you have a long wait. We need to have our players playing at least 20 first class games a season. Another thing we have too many youngster playing international cricket early. We need better pitches in that batsmen and bowlers need to apply themselves(i.e. they get what they put in).And we need to give the spin bowlers a chance to develop we haven't had a world class spinner since Lance Gibbs and even he didn't become world class overnight. Also the standards of our coaches at grass roots level need be improved. These players haven't seem to grasp the magnitude of our West Indian Cricket History generally