Lara concerned about spate of injuries

Brian Lara has expressed his concern about the flurry of injuries that have hit the West Indies team recently ahead of their tour of England later this month.

"I must express how worried I am," Lara told Associated Press, "about the spate of injuries to the young and very talented ones. Fidel Edwards continuously finds himself on the physio table, and now has been sidelined at least five times in his brief career." Edwards, struck with a hamstrung injury, was excluded from the one-day squad that is due to depart for England on June 13.

The risk of overworking his fast bowlers was another major concern for Lara. "Just look at them and you would wonder how they generate such pace with such small physiques. These guys bowl in the region of 90 miles [per hour] and upwards, and surely the constant pounding will accentuate injury."

However, Lara also cited the positives that his team had gained from the victory over Bangladesh and praised the efforts of Ramnaresh Sarwan, Omari Banks and Pedro Collins. And there was also a note about the scheduling of the one-dayers before the Tests, on the forthcoming England tour, which he felt would enable the players to get acclimatised to the conditions.

West Indies will join England and New Zealand in the three-way NatWest Series which begins on June 24, and later take on England in a four-Test series which starts towards the end of July.