The Real Brian Lara Column

Today was a little disappointing for me personally as we failed to make the early inroads I was hoping for after winning a crucial toss.

Our plan, which I formulated while watching Steve Harmison warming up in the nets before the game, was to avoid getting bowled out for 47 or less on the first day. We felt that if we let the English batsmen wear the wicket down over the course of a few days, it would flatten out into a real dead track and we could eke out a draw, or something.

Unfortunately, after an early breakthrough we sort of dropped the ball - literally - and the breaks just didn't come our way. Until Omari Banks gave us the breakthrough, I actually had no idea where the next wicket was coming from. I brought on Sarwan to bowl immediately after the tea break because I read once that you should put pressure on the bowlers right after a break in play. Or maybe it was the batsmen, I'll have to go back and check on that because putting Ronnie under that pressure did not seem to get us a wicket.

Banks continues to impress despite his high economy and poor strike rate. He has come under some criticism by the aficianados (sp!) but I believe it is simply a matter of lowering expectations, that if we look at him in a certain way, he can actually look very good.

We are fortunate to have Pedro Collins in our bowling lineup today. Unlike the other pacers, he has a lot of unvaluable experience in situations very much like these, so hopefully he can take Fidel, Dwayne, and Tino under his wing and help them cope at what must certainly be a difficult time for them.

Except for the fact that we failed to get the wickets and that England managed to put a lot of runs on the board, I am optimistic that we are still very much in the game.

History is on our side here, if you remember the last series we played in England we showed that we are capable of completely reversing the fortunes of the first day of a series. In fact, last time around the rest of the series was completely the opposite of the first day and I am hopeful that we can do the same this time.

* EDITOR'S NOTE: Parody is a great diversion to help cope with 391 for 2.