LARA
CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC):
FOR THE first time in the series, West Indies captain Brian Lara was pleased with his side's manner of victory over their lowly rated opponents, Zimbabwe.
"It was something I was looking for since the beginning," Lara said of the comprehensive 10-wicket thrashing in the fifth ODI of the seven-match series at the Beausejour Cricket Stadium on Wednesday night.
"I told the guys if we are batting second, we should try to accomplish our target in 35 overs and if we are bowling second we should at least win the game by 100 runs. Today it showed that we've done that, we've done it style and by 10 wickets as well."
West Indies restricted Zim-babwe to 151 all out in 49.2 overs and then plundered 156 without loss off 27.4 overs to ease home comfortably, with Chris Gayle smashing 95 and Sewnarine Chattergoon, 54.
Lara, newly installed as the regional captain, said he felt the team had improved since the series bowled off in Antigua on April 29.
"I think we are playing good cricket. We were bit slow in the field but I still think we achieved what we wanted to," Lara noted.
"The guys are batting well. Chris Gayle is heading into form and (though) we haven't had a chance yet in terms of (Ramnaresh) Sarwan and myself to get big scores, hopefully by the weekend in Trinidad we can get those scores under our belt and be more confident going into the Indian series."
West Indies lead the series 4-0 with two matches remaining.
