Lara: 'The problem is within the team'

Brian Lara's position as West Indies captain has come under fire in recent months. Several disgruntled former Test players - most notably Sir Viv Richards - have attacked him for West Indies' failures. Lara's team has struggled to arrest a steady slide, and at times the strain of leading a team that regularly under-performs shows on Lara's face. Ahead of their first match in this year's Champions Trophy Lara reconciled himself to the criticism.

"The expectations are always great," he said at the Rose Bowl today. "You have to remember that just two decades ago the West Indies were invincible. People got accustomed to that style of cricket and the winning ways. We do understand how emotional people are about cricket in the West Indies. I feel it is a tough ask of a young and inexperienced team - one that has been chopping and changing not only because of bad performance but injury as well. We've been losing really badly to some of the top sides, and people want to see us show a bit more fight and that's what we're trying to instill in the guys."

But that fight has not been forthcoming often enough, and this has led to repeated calls for Lara's removal as captain, and scathing criticism of the team. "People are entitled to their opinion. We've got to take our ability and our talents and get it going in the right direction," admitted Lara. "We've got to accept the fact that people are disappointed. Some people put pen to paper and express themselves. We have to galvanise ourselves, and we can't spend too much time thinking about what the critics have to say."

One of the problems for Lara is that his team comprises people from several countries. The West Indies exists as an entity only when it comes to playing cricket. This often makes it hard to bind a disparate group of cricketers into one fighting unit. But the team has worked towards being more united. "We spent some time in Grenada after the England tour. We got the guys together and team gelling. It wasn't much cricket there," explained Lara. "We've been here ten days now and we've been trying to get the guys together. The spirit is very good. We have some experienced guys coming back in [Mervyn] Dillon and Wavell Hinds, and these guys should help in that area."

More than once Lara has publicly called on his players to show more pride in the maroon cap, but they have seldom responded with positive action. When asked if he was happy with the way his team responded to him, Lara said: "I don't like the results. The players accept the fact that the problem is within the team, and that we have to sort it out. I don't think it matters that much who is leading the team - if you don't play good cricket you're not going to win."

West Indies have traditionally done well against South Africa in big tournaments such as the World Cup. This, combined with the fact that South Africa's victory over Bangladesh ended a terrible run of ten consecutive defeats, has led to suggestions that West Indies are favourites to top their pool. Lara, however, shrugged off the "favourites" tag. "I think in recent times South Africa have had the upper hand against us. I know for a fact that losing ten straight games is going to hurt them. They're going to come out fighting. I don't think the West Indies could be labelled favourites in the pool."

Either way, we'll find out soon enough, with tomorrow's game against Bangladesh providing an insight into the state of the West Indian team.