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."
Last week, after several frustrating attempts to get some
promised answers from the folks at Wisden.com, the editors of
CaribbeanCricket.com decided to publish the
list of unanswered questions.
Lo and behold, it appears our impatience paid off. Suddenly, the
answers appeared in our e-mail inboxes today (Monday). Here,
without any comment, we publish the complete Q&A interview with
Wisden.com executive Jamie Clifford...
The West Indies/India 2002 Cable & Wireless Test series is
over. The West Indies have won. It was a series that they were not
expected to win, coming as it did after the three Test series
defeat in Sri Lanka. In contrast, observers believed that India
stood a good opportunity of winning a series for the first time
outside of the sub continent. This victory therefore was bracing as
it was significant.
As I end my term as Chairman of the West Indies Cricket Board's
selection committee, I am delighted by West Indies' 2-1 victory
over India in the 2002 Cable & Wireless Test Series.
Most of all, I am encouraged by indications that many of the young
talented cricketers in whom we have invested are beginning to show
signs that indicate that they will emerge as the core unit of the
revival of an exciting and bright future for West Indies
cricket.
Leg spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo has resumed training after being
passed fit to do so by Trinidadian doctor Terry Alli and wants to
be considered for upcoming Test series against New Zealand,
according to a report in Guyana's Stabroek News.
In an exclusive interview with Sean Devers, the 26-year-old
Nagamootoo announced he was back to full fitness and has resumed
training after returning home from Trinidad, where he was
recupering from an auto accident that ruled out of the Test and ODI
series against India.
