Lara: Time for a contracts system

Brian Lara has called on the West Indian Cricket Board to instigate a contracts system, after their Test series against South Africa ended in a crushing ten-wicket defeat at Centurion.

"I have been saying it for a long time," said Lara. "You can not play international sport and sit for four months doing nothing, picking up weight and coming back to be selected. Of course it is up to the player to look after himself, but under contract the board can ensure that the players stay fit, focused, practice and keep an eye on them."

A quick glance at the series averages showed where the series was won and lost. Although the West Indian batsmen matched South Africa almost blow for blow, scoring eight of the 20 centuries in the series, the bowling was a wholly different story. Between them, nine West Indian bowlers took 43 wickets, eight fewer than South Africa's pairing of Andre Nel and the Man of the Series, Makhaya Ntini.

"In the end you have to take it upon yourself to perform out there," said Lara. "You have to push yourself, and I would love the guys to grab the initiative and get on top."

West Indies' leading wicket-taker, with eight scalps, was Fidel Edwards, and Lara singled him out for his effort. "Fidel is still new to first-class cricket, never mind Test matches, but he is a tremendous talent and I am sure that he is going to walk away from this a better player. He has had to learn his trade against one of the toughest batting line-ups in world cricket, and away from home as well."

"It is tough to lose matches but the South Africans played great cricket. We had to play catch-up most of the series, and it was very difficult for us to win a match after bowling first and facing about 500 runs each time. Lara himself scored 531 runs in the series at an average of 66.37, but was out-shone by Jacques Kallis (712) and Herschelle Gibbs (583), who scored seven hundreds between them.

"It has been a very tough tour," admitted Lara, "especially where injuries have gone. The guys here have worked hard. I have worked hard. [Ramnaresh] Sarwan has worked hard. Even in the practice games we worked hard and I have to congratulate them for that."

"The one-day series will be different," said Lara. "It is more intense and should suit us a lot better. We have played some good cricket in sessions - yesterday we batted for 60 overs and lost only one wicket. Today we lost five or six wickets in the first hour.

"But our batsmen have been in form and I am sure the guys are going to come up with some good performances. Batting is very important in the one-day form of the game and hopefully the bowlers will get it right as well."