West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan chats with wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin during a training session at Lord's yesterday. The first Test started this morning. - delmar photo LONDON (CMC):
THE WEST Indies officially began the post-Brian Lara era this morning, when the first Test against England began at Lord's.
Ramnaresh Sarwan has preached, since being appointed captain, that now Lara has left the world stage, West Indies have no superstars on which to rely upon, and teamwork more than individual brilliance can make a difference.
"We're not a great team - we don't have any great superstars," Sarwan told reporters on the eve of the match.
"It's just a matter of us playing basic cricket and getting things right. The key to the series is that we execute our plan - that is something we'll be looking at very hard." To this end, Sarwan has identified the current New Zealand team under the leadership of Stephen Fleming as the blueprint he has in his mind for his side.
"If you look at New Zealand, they are a teamwho do that (teamwork) very well," he said.
"That's what we're going to be trying to achieve. It is important we believe in each other; it's most important we support each other and accept we must play to our limitations."
Sarwan is, however, under no illusions about what the absence of Lara will mean to the team.
"Obviously, we will miss Brian, but it presents a great opportunity for everyone to put their hands up," Sarwan said.
"It is a great responsibility as well, and this is a new era to take West Indies cricket forward. We hope we can grab this great opportunity with both hands."
West Indies suffered a major setback in preparation for the Test, when their only warm-up match against Somerset over the weekend in Taunton was badly affected by rain.
Competitive
Only 48.4 overs were possible in the match, and though Runako Morton and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were the only ones that made hay while the sun shone, Sarwan still expects his side to be competitive.
"I've been playing international cricket for eight years, and it is the first time I've experienced something like this," he said.
"We knew what could happen with just one game for preparation, and it did with the rain at Taunton.
"We always go into a series as underdogs because of how we've been playing over the past couple of years. But we are determined to stay mentally strong. That is the most important thing going into this Test match.
"We must encourage each other to stay focussed on what we have to do - and believe in our ability."
The West Indies were likely to field the same 11 that had been selected for the match against Somerset, which means Sylvester Joseph and Fidel Edwards will have to wait a little longer to resume their Test careers and Ravi Rampaul and Daren Sammy to start theirs.
The odds are heavily stacked against West Indies, since England's home record over the past four years has been impressive.
The English have won 16 times - including a 4-0 sweep of West Indies three years ago - and lost just twice in their past 22 Tests.
"It would be wrong of us to totally discount them, but one of our mantras is no one should beat us at home," interim captain Andrew Strauss said.
"There's no reason, if we play the sort of cricket that we can, that we should get beaten by West Indies. In our home conditions, we aim to be the best side in the world."
They, however, have endured a rocky winter during which Australia mauled them 5-0 to retain the Ashes, and they failed to make an impression in the two major limited-overs competitions - the ICC Champions Trophy in India last year and the World Cup staged in the Caribbean for the first time.
Positive attitude
"The public is entitled to see English cricket being played in the way that we have done over the last few years and this means enjoying each other's success and going out there and providing a good, positive attitude and playing good, attacking cricket," Strauss said.
"That has been the basis for our success over a long period of time and there's no reason to change it. We've got the players in place, and it's important we recognise, and other people recognise we're a very good Test cricket side." Teams:
ENGLAND (from): Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Matt Prior, Owais Shah.
WEST INDIES (from): Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Sylvester Joseph, Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Daren Sammy, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor.
