Lara calls for livelier pitches

Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, was at pains in pleading with authorities to produce quicker pitches for the remaining two Tests against India in St Kitts and Jamaica respectively.

Lara was clearly despondent over the unresponsive surface that was served up at the Beasejour Stadium in St Lucia for the second Test in which he made a battling century that earned his team a draw.

"I'm not asking for anything that is going to raise the eyebrow. I'm just asking for a pitch that fast bowlers can enjoy," Lara told a select group of Caribbean journalists after the match. "You look at the pitch in this match. We had to play for a draw after the first session. We never looked like we were going to get the Indians out. If they edged the ball, it went down to slip. We need something that is fair."

The third Test of the series, starting next Thursday is scheduled for Warner Park (St Kitts), its first Test match. Based on what Lara saw when the ground hosted its first one-day international on May 23, he feels something different is needed.

"It was void of grass. We still need something that lasts five days and does not break up," he said. "Why would I want to be caught at slip with a ball pitching outside leg stump to Harbhajan Singh again? We want to win this series. We've been behind the eight-ball in the last seven days of Test cricket, simply because of the fact that the spinners have come into their own."

The pitch at the Antigua Recreation Ground was given a passing grade, but some of the others he has encountered this season, including the track at the Carlton Club in Barbados during the Carib Beer Cup, received a negative assessment from Lara.

"I played a couple first-class matches at Carlton and Guaracara Park and it was a real burial ground for the fast bowlers. In saying that, you see ordinary batsmen benefit because of it," he said. "You look at my innings [in St Lucia]. A lot of people could have played that innings. You bat a yard from the off stump. The bowler is not going to get the ball up by your head. The ball wasn't swinging much."

He also looked back at the 2004 home series against England when the pitches suited the opponents. The England attack, comprising Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff made life difficult for the West Indies batsmen.

"In Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados - all these pitches leading up to Antigua were pitches that were favouring fast bowlers," Lara said. "We want it now. England had Harmison, Jones, Flintoff, Hoggard, guys who enjoyed the conditions and we were 3-0 down before you knew it. We are not worried about the Patels, the Sreesanths and the Pathans. It is time for them to start worrying about our fast bowlers."

While Lara has not directly approached the authorities to ask for fast pitches at Warner Park and Sabina Park, the venue for the fourth Test, he feels they should know what is needed. "I have sent out little messages. I haven't spoken to the curator or any groundsman around the Caribbean, but the fact of the matter is that we are playing in the Caribbean and we know the Indian team loves flat wickets.

"They love the ball bouncing nothing above waist height. They enjoy it. You saw Sehwag bat in this particular Test match. He was actually chipping into the fast bowlers in the first session. Why was that necessary?"