Brian Lara
brisbane, australia (ap)
BRIAN LARA'S POOR form for the World XI will be reversed in the upcoming cricket series against Australia, West Indies coach Bennett King said yesterday.
The West Indies arrived in Brisbane yesterday to start preparations for the opening match of the three-Test series at the Gabba ground beginning November 3.
Former Queensland state and Australian cricket academy coach King will rely heavily on a form reversal from Lara, who along with skipper Shivnarine Chanderpaul, is the only West Indies player over 30.
The 36-year-old Lara scored just five and 36 in the Wolrd XI's 210-run super Test loss to Australia at Sydney and also failed in the three limited-overs internationals.
"Hopefully, he's saving them all up for us against Australia," King said.
"I think he's copped some pretty harsh criticism in the press and people forget what he's done. He's one innings away from being the class player again that we all know that he is."
Lara, who will join his teammates in Brisbane today, has 10,859 runs from 118 Tests and is just 315 short of former Australian captain Allan Border's record of 11,174.
Chanderpaul said a contractual row between the West Indies Players' Association and the West Indies Cricket Board had been resolved and the team was looking forward to the series.
"I think so far everything is sorted out and we're down here to play cricket," he said.
The dispute meant King has already coached a combined 39 players in the West Indies team since he took over as coach 10 months ago.
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