‘Net’ting a fully-fit Lara Brian Lara is back among his teammates in what is definitely the most heartening development for the West Indies ahead of the first Test that starts in Guyana on April 11. The few hundred spectators who had come to watch their team at the nets heartily cheered their hero as he played a few of his strokes. West Indies captain Carl Hooper too was elated to see his star batsman back in the squad. "Obviously, it's great to have Lara back," Hooper said. "Even in the last series he had played, Lara was the most outstanding player on both sides. He could be the key to our winning this series as well." His exploits in that series had won Lara the ultimate accolade from Sri Lankan off-spinning great Muttiah Muralitharan, who named him the "toughest batsman he has bowled to." Hooper and the rest of the side would, then, be hoping to see Lara back at his run-making best.

West Indies plan to unleash pace on India The Indian team, looking for just their second series victory in the Carribean in 49 years, might have been considerably cheered by the pitch at the Bourda Oval, Guyana, the venue of the first Test. Knowledgeable observers say that the bounce will turn variable as the match progresses. The situation, then, seems taliormade for Anil Kumble, and the Indians would be hoping that their greatest match-winner in recent times will at last deliver the long elusive win in the Carribean. The rest of the bowling attack will be expected to pitch in as well, and with Harbhajan Singh also likely to play, India defintely have the resources to break the back of the relatively weak West Indies batting. That is, once a certain Brian Lara is out of the way. "Lara is the one man we will all be looking to get out," India's left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan told newsmen ahead of the Test. "We know how hard it is to get his wicket and we'll have to make sure we give our best against him." The Indian batting, for their part, will also have to put their best foot forward. They have been guilty of committing hara-kiri in the past, and this is something they cannot repeat yet again. The West Indian skipper, knowing their weakness against pace, plans to let his quicks loose upon them. But with no quality pace bowlers in the home team’s ranks, this is one battle the Indians should win. If all goes according to plan, and the rain too keeps away, we might then witness a long-dreamed-of Indian win.

Not the best of ambassadors The Indian cricketers, who are usually popular with the Guyanese crowd, had to suffer the mortification of being booed off the ground. The incident occurred after Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer indulged in slow batting in a one-dayer against the Guyana Board President’s XI, a match staged to accomodate the Indian team’s wishes. Batting first, the home team, defeated in the tour opener earlier that afternoon, hit up 136 for five in 21 overs. In reply, Dravid and Jaffer adopted a painstakingly slow approach, eking out just 43 runs off the same number of overs. It was not in keeping with the spirit of the game, and the crowd definitely had a case for pouring scorn on the duo. Indian coach John Wright defended his men though. "The crowd could have gone home," Wright said. "We were keen to have some practice and I think the boys got it."

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