Lara: 'The More I Play, The Better'

Brian Lara believes his bothersome elbow will only regain full fitness sometime towards the end of the year. The champion left-hander made the pronouncement after his unbeaten 59, his highest score in international matches this season, helped West Indies to a comfortable seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the third Cable & Wireless One-Day International at the Beausejour Stadium on Sunday.

"I'd say the elbow is 80 per cent and improving. The main thing is that I can play cricket better than say two or three months ago," Lara said. "With God's help, things are improving at a rate where I will be able to bat better at the end of the year."

The 33-year-old Lara, world record-holder for the highest Test and first-class scores, has struggled for form since returning to the game on April 11 following a lay-off from December 15 last year, when he dislocated and fractured his left elbow on colliding with Sri Lankan fielder Marvan Atapattu.

The injury came at the end of the tour in which Lara was in phenomenal form that brought him 688 runs (ave. 114.66) in three Tests, including scores of 178, 221 and 130.

"The elbow?s coming along, but it?s going to take some time," Lara said. "I still don't get full extension, but I should be back to full fitness in five to six months."

During the recent five Tests against India, Lara's scores were 0, 52, 47, 55, 4, 9, 35. After the limited-overs series in which he made 5, 4 not out and 36, there were suggestions that Lara should take a rest for the five One-Days against New Zealand ahead of the two-match Test series.

"I think I needed to play. The more I play and the more functional therapy I have is better for the elbow," Lara said. "One of the things about playing One-Day cricket is that I am going to play more shots and get a lot more confidence in my arm."

His innings on Sunday, which earned him the Man-Of-The-Match award, contained some of his strokes of old, including a six over long-off.

While Lara is not enjoying rich form with the bat, he puts the overall success of the West Indies team as his priority.

"If you look at my success in Sri Lanka and the sort of performance we had as a team, I?d prefer to be in this situation where I?m struggling for form but we?re still winning," he said. "I know eventually, at some point in time, the runs are going to come for me, but the team winning and morale of the team are very important. It [morale] wasn?t very high in Sri Lanka, it?s very high now in the West Indies and I hope we can keep it."

West Indies lost the three Tests in Sri Lanka by crashing margins, but bounced back to beat India 2-1 in the Test series before losing to the same opponents by the same scoreline in the limited-overs matches.

Their win on Sunday against New Zealand has given them an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series in which there are remaining matches at Queen?s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain tomorrow and Arnos Vale Playing Field in Kingstown on Sunday.

From there, the two teams play Test matches at Barbados? Kensington Oval and Grenada?s Queen?s Park Stadium.

"My main goal is a team goal and that is to be successful," Lara said. "It?s useless scoring a heap of runs and not getting victories. I?d love to make a contribution with the bat. That?s what I?m selected for. Hopefully, that?s going to come during the series."

SOURCE: Barbados Nation.