Lara wants home Tests to start earlier

Brian Lara looks at the dark clouds over St. Lucia during the third Test © AFP

Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, has suggested that future home Test series in the West Indies be scheduled earlier in the year to avoid the kind of rain interruptions which have blighted the current series against India.

Rain intervened in both the second and third Tests, denying both teams the opportunity of forcing a result. Play was completely washed out on the fourth day in St. Lucia after India enforced the follow-on, while in St. Kitts, two sessions were washed out in the first two days which hampered West Indies in the end.

"It is June and I don't know why we are playing cricket this time of the year, and it (rain interruptions) has been happening for the last four or five years, and I think it is unfortunate", Lara said. "There is no international cricket in the West Indies in the months of February and March when the sun is out ... but we just have to accept it because that is the situation.''

Desmond Haynes, the former West Indies batsman, supported Lara's view, hoping that the authorities will follow the example of next year's World Cup in the West Indies which has been scheduled during the dry season. He also indicated that the current itinerary could be responsible for the disappointing spectator-turnout in this series.

"The timing is bad and it is costing the West Indies Cricket Board great losses since not much people are coming to the matches, the arrangements for television are different, and the sponsorship is not able to cover any major shortfall," Haynes said. "It is their World Cup so they have made every effort to put it where there is the least chance of it being troubled by the rainy weather."

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