Lara keen to exorcise ghosts of the past

Brian Lara: 'There won't be any hangover from the last trip' © Getty Images

West Indies arrived in South Africa for the start of their two-month tour, and Brian Lara was keen to play down comparisons with the last side to tour the Republic. In 1998-99, they were crushed 5-0 in the Tests and 6-1 in the ODIs.

"This is a new tour, we have a group of young players who weren't here in 1998-99 so there won't be any hangover from the last trip," said Lara. "There are only five players from the last tour here involved this time so I do not expect it to be a big issue."

Lara was captain then, but the tour was beset by off-the-field controversy and was a far from happy experience. But it was a far more laid back Lara who faced the media in Johannesburg this time round.

"The tour of Zimbabwe has been an ideal preparation for us," he said. "They gave us much stiffer opposition than we had expected and we had to play well to come out on top in both the tests and the one-dayers. It has been a very different build-up compared to the last tour, when we had no preparation beforehand.

"West Indian teams have not been renowned for bouncing back in the past," Lara continued. "But the players showed a lot of character in the way they came back in the Tests and one-dayers in Zimbabwe. We barely survived the first Test to get a draw and then we managed to come back from two games down in the one-dayers. To me that showed character."

And Lara was keen to look to the future, singling out the young guns in the side. "They want to make a name for themselves and I am expecting them to blend into a good, strong unit on this tour. The next few months will show the character of our team and that of the South Africans, who are also a young side making their way."

The tour gets underway with a gentle warm-up against an NFO XI at Randjesfontein on Wednesday (December 3).