Lara: Vice Captaincy Will Work Itself Out

On his assessment of the second ODI:

I still feel that we fell down a bit in the batting. The batting is not as solid as we would have hoped. I am happy with the bowling. I asked yesterday for more wickets today especially in the first 20 to 25 overs and they were four or five down today. The fact that they got 150 yesterday shows the importance of taking early wickets because they did have a sort of a flier (Sunday).

I am just a little bit worried about the batting but I sense that the guys are just getting themselves back in and that we can expect better as we go on. We know for a fact that if we are going to play against better teams that we've got to score a lot more freely and make a lot more runs.

On Jerome Taylor's outstanding bowling which earned him back to back Man-of-the-Match medals:

We're quite happy with him. He's had a couple of stints with the West Indies and he's had injury curtail his continuity in the team so we've got to be very, very careful with him. I think that he's not only bowling well in the One-Day matches but he's also a Test bowler. We've got to ensure that we have a full 15 to 16 players come the Test series.

I am not sure if you're going to be seeing him in Guyana but I know that we're going to be resting players that are doing well to make sure to get the right combination going into the latter matches.

On Zimbabwe's early showing:

They are playing decent cricket. I like the number three batsman (Justice Chibhabha), I think he's a very good player, a very exciting player. I think they've got a couple of very good, talented players in the team and something that they can work on for the future. I still think they are an international team, we expect them to compete and that's what they are doing.

We weren't as convincing as we should be but don't take anything away from our guys, to complete a victory is important. We've got to go back in the classroom and work on it. The Zimbabweans, I think they've got hope, it's a situation where it's unfortunate with the exodus of players but they have to work with what they have and I'm seeing one or two bright lights.

On his move down the batting order:

I want to see the likes (Denesh) Ramdin and (Dwayne) Bravo and Dwayne Smith on occasion and Marlon Samuels get the opportunity. Even (Shiv) Chanderpaul you might see creeping up the order a bit. I think in these seven games it's all about making sure everybody gets three or four hits and no one is hogging the batting and at the end we've got guys that we're second guessing so that's the main reason for it (moving down the order).

One of the other things is that this West Indies team is not going to be playing names anymore, we're going to be playing to a plan and we're going to have requirements for those positions. If the positions are going to be fulfilled in the way that we like, these players are going to have the opportunity to continue. Right now we're unsettled in terms of the order but in our minds we're settled on what the exact positions require and we're working our way to find the right players for it.

One of the things this team is lacking is in-house competition. I want to see guys topple whoever we consider to be the best batsman. In my day back in the early 90s there was Desmond Haynes and Richie Richardson but at the end of any series I want to see us come up with the top batsman of that series. To say that Brian Lara is the premier batsman or this guy is indispensable, that's no longer in our team.

On not naming a vice captain:

That was the case many years ago when I first came into the team. I sense that you're actually going to see a captain on the field before the series is over because I don't think I have intentions or playing all seven. If you could just hold strain, it should not be a great topic at this time, it will work out itself.