Lara still helping us - Bravo

Dwayne Bravo is looking to put the advice he has received from Brian Lara to good use when the third Test against England gets under way at Old Trafford on Thursday. Lara could do nothing as his former team-mates slumped to a record innings and 283-run defeat in the second Test at Headingley.

"Just last [Monday] night I was on the phone with Brian," Bravo said. "He called me, having arrived in London. He is aware of everything that is going on. He still has a big interest in the team's performance. At Lord's [where West Indies drew the first Test] he was in the dressing room among the guys.

"It is very nice to know that even after he called it a day he still has enough time to make himself available to the younger players. Brian has a special place in the heart of West Indian cricket and has a lot to offer still. Anything going wrong with our batters, whether it be Chris Gayle or Devon Smith, if he can't get hold of them, he will pass it on to me."

West Indies technique against the swinging ball looked inadequate at Headingley where the cold conditions were far removed from those in the Caribbean, although they weren't helped by being without Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan. But Bravo, whose second-innings 52 at Headingley was a rare West Indies highlight, is hoping for better weather at Old Trafford, where three years ago he struck 77 and took six wickets in the first innings of a Test.

"The weather is looking fine so far," he said. "The pitch looks hard and that is our kind of cricket, where the ball is coming on to the bat and there is bounce for the fast bowlers."