Richards calls for Barbados pace battery

Viv Richards wants West Indies to retain their bulging pace attack to take advantage of a Kensington Oval pitch that is expected to help the fast men in Thursday's third Test. The home side did not pick a spinner in the drawn second match against Australia and Richards wants more of the same.

"We will have the conditions that should suit fast bowling - Antigua was not," Richards said on Cana News. "West Indies have to try and find the best fast bowling attack that is possible, and bring back some memories of what it used to be like at Kensington Oval." West Indies need to win the match to level the series, but the Frank Worrell Trophy has already been re-captured by Ricky Ponting's team, which leads the contest 1-0.

While Richards has confidence in the hosts' attack, his former team-mate Joel Garner said the current bowlers were "lazy". "Fitness is a major part of their problem," Garner said in the Courier Mail. "If you are physically fit you are mentally fit. They aren't.

"The mental attitude is not right. I would say they are lazy. The intensity is only there for 1½ sessions and then they go to sleep. They bowl in bursts which is not what is needed."

Richards said the team had taken "great strides" recently, but "we can only keep on speaking about potential for so long". "There comes a time when you are measured by winning," he said. "Sometimes we make a little progress this year and then, for some reason, we take a few strides back the following year."