Adams not worried

The headlines in the British Press were as sizeable as they were inevitable.

But Jimmy Adams is unconcerned with Brian Lara's double failure in the West Indies' opening match of their England tour.

'I'm not reading anything into them,' the captain said yesterday as the team prepared for its three-day match against Glamorgan in Cardiff, starting today.

'They were both a bit freakish in that he was caught down the leg-side by the keeper off two fine deflections.'

Playing his first match since February 6 after taking his break from the international home series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan, Lara was out for one in each innings against Worcestershire in the drawn match that ended yesterday.

He faced four balls in the first innings and two in the second.

'The thing is that Brian wants to play and is keen,' the man who succeeded Lara when he quit the captaincy last February noted.

'He's not only saying it, he's showing it but putting in the extra effort in the nets.'

Lara spent long periods batting in the nets in Worcester, against teammates and a bowling machine and had another in fine weather in Cardiff yesterday, Adams said.

'You know what England means to him,' the new captain added. 'Once you marry his attitude and his talent, I know he'll be back to his best. It's only a matter of time.'

Adams said he was 'satisfied' with the returns against Worcesterhire.

'Seeing that we started on Friday after arriving on Wednesday, there was some jet lag and tiredness and that was evident,' he observed.

'We have a number of young players who were playing in England for the first time, the ball was moving around, and it was a good introduction for them.

'Most of them got starts and batted for some time.'

Chris Gayle, the 20-year-old left-hander, spent over two hours for his first innings topscore 38 while Ramnaresh Sarwan, 19, spent similar valuable time over his 27 and 30.

Adams was also heartened by Shivnarine Chanderpaul's unbeaten 161 in the second innings and the fast bowling of Corey Collymore.

'Shiv's one of our experienced batsmen and it's important he found form this quickly,' he said.

'Corey bowled with real pace and looked very relaxed, and that was a plus for someone who is just coming off a long lay-off with injury.'