Members of the West Indies team go through a sprint drill at Jarrett Park yesterday. - photo by Adrian Frater

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

WEST INDIES coach Bennett King says tha skip-per and star batsman Brian Lara has not played a lot of cricket in recent times, there is no need to be unduly worried.

"Within the space of one or two days Brian is usually back to his best because of how much work he has done prior," said King following the team's extended training session at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay yesterday.

"He has played 16 years, he has a lot of volume under his belt," the coach said.

In speaking to Lara's current mental attitude, Australian King, while acknowledging that the double world record holder needs some time out in the middle, was quick to point out that he was keen on doing well leading up to the Cricket World Cup, which could be his last major hurrah for the West Indies.

"He is very keen to play, he is like a spring chicken at the moment," said a smiling King. "He is jumping out of his seat to play."

In looking ahead to tomorrow's big warm-up match against the Indian team at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium, King said the game would be treated seriously as the Windies will be aiming to improve on some weaknesses that were observed when they defeated Kenya in their first warm-up game.

"We were disappointed with some aspects of the Kenyan game," said King. "We have just got to be much tougher; we need better batting and we need to bowl much better."

KING

With regards to the team's bowling,King said there was much room for improvement because they were giving away too many extras and conceding too many runs in the latter stages of overs.

"We are bowling far too many wides - three to four overs (worth). That is an area in which we need to improve," noted King. "We are also giving up boundaries off the last ball of the overs. We need to start working on finishing our overs properly."

While noting that fast bowler Corey Collymore is being treated with care so as not to over-bowl him, King conceded that Ian Bradshaw's bowling has been a little bit disappointing, especially since the team's recent tour of India.

"He (Bradshaw) has not been playing a lot of cricket for Barbados so he is someone that needs work," said King. "He really needs some bowling under his belt so Friday will be another opportunity for him."