Lara drained by winning knocks (5 April 1999)

5 April 1999

Lara drained by winning knocks

The Barbados Nation

Brian Lara has confessed to being mentally tired after his two superlative knocks that put West Indies in a good position to retain the Frank Worrell trophy.

Tired or not, Lara produced another breathaking innings yesterday of exactly 100, the third fastest century by a West Indian.

"Against the bowling I picked up a rhythm and I was batting pretty well," Lara said after the day's play. "I was respecting (fast bowler Glenn) McGrath's bowling a bit more than the others and with the spinner and the medium pacer things came a bit easier."

The statistics bore him out. Lara scored just 13 runs from 21 deliveries from McGrath, while he lashed Stuart MacGill for 38 runs off 28 balls, Adam Dale for 35 off 22 and Colin Miller for 14 off 13.

Things did get easier but it didn't look quite that way at the start as Lara appeared to be out of sorts following his match-winning 213 in Jamaica and 153 not out in Barbados in the previous two Tests.

"I must confess that I was mentally tired and I was struggling to concentrate a bit with the sort of line and length the Australians were bowling, especially McGrath and Dale," Lara said.

The manner of Lara's domination was emphasised in his stand of 116 with Dave Joseph for the third wicket. The Antiguan right-hander scored just 14 runs and there were two no-balls as Lara took total control.

For the first time in the series, Jimmy Adams was not his accomplice on the way to a hundred.

Twice in this Cable and Wireless series, Adams has batted with Lara and twice they have shared match-winning partnerships. Adams' other four innings have been duds. Yesterday, he scored his second duck when he was caught behind off Dale.

The Jamaican left-hander, once regarded as the most reliable batsman in the West Indies team, was with Lara for more than six hours in a partnership of 342 at Sabina Park and another three hours in a stand of 133 at Kensington Oval. Lara made 213 and 153 not out; Adams share was 94 and 38.

Lara has gone on record as saying that he would not have been able to play like he did without Adams, and Adams feels the same way about the effect Lara had on him.

"There are no two ways about that," he said. "Any pair of batsmen will realise after a while that something is happening. You are doing what you do best, the other player is doing what he does best and there is that sort of coming together. You know that you're in a dogfight with somebody who's there with you, encouraging you, pulling you along."

It is that coming together, not just of Lara and Adams, but of Lara and the rest of his team, which has been at the heart of the West Indies revival.

"I've noticed a change in the squad, not just in Brian," Adams said. "Even before the Trinidad Test, in which we were badly beaten, I thought it was a much humbler squad and I think our 5-0 defeat in South Africa had a lot to do with that.

"We still have a nucleus of players who have been part of successful West Indies teams and I think South Africa showed us that unless we played together and fought for each other, we weren't going to achieve that much."

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)