West Indies skipper, Carl Hooper (left) alongside Brian Lara. - File
COLOMBO, (Reuters):
BRIAN LARA has been given a vote of confidence by West Indies captain Carl Hooper who believes the record-breaking batsman is vital to his team's success.
Lara, who has been dogged by a hamstring injury in recent months, has recently been criticised as being past his best.
But Hooper, whose side have lost the first two tests of the current three-match series against Sri Lanka, said having Lara in the team was always a plus.
"Lara, whom people thought was past his best, is certainly showing that he is one of the best players there at the moment," said Hooper.
"There were a lot of reports about him being a negative influence in the team. In my stint as captain, he has always been supportive of the younger players and I hope he continues to be so".
In September former West Indies great Everton Weekes said he believed Lara's career had been severely affected by injury, but Hooper stands by the Trinidadian who holds the record for the highest individual scores in Test and first-class cricket.
"It is a big plus for West Indies cricket in general. We can all look at Brian and take a leaf out of his book. He's worked hard and dedicated himself and he's had results on this tour," Hooper said.
The left-handed batsman is averaging 84.25 having accumulated 337 runs in the two Tests against Sri Lanka.
But, despite Lara's presence, Hooper admitted the team as a whole was struggling and recent results had been disappointing.
"I thought that the next six to 12 months were going to be a big test for us," said Hooper.
"Sri Lanka (away), Pakistan (away) and then India back in the Caribbean. We haven't stood up to this test well.
"Sooner or later we'll need to do more work and, hopefully, after this series, again address the areas in which we lapsed," said Hooper.
"It was disappointing after doing fairly well against South Africa and to go to Africa and do really well.
"We were expecting to build on it. That's what I wanted, but it didn't happen. We've got to keep working. We can't afford to give up or we'll just keep going down further," he said.
West Indies lost a five match series 2-1 at the start of the year to South Africa and then beat Kenya 3-0 in three one-day internationals.
"The bowlers and batters we've got today are not in the same class of the eighties, but it's a learning process," Cooper said.
Merv (Dillon), Pedro (Collins) and (Colin) Stuart all these guys will get better. The batters I think will get back.
"This is not going to be an overnight fix. But we have got to keep working hard. Keep the faith and I am sure we'll come good in the end," said Hooper.
Hooper added that Ramnaresh Sarwan at number three "has been a revelation".
"He looks better and better as the tour goes on certainly when he is facing a bowler in the class of a spinner like (Muttiah) Muralitharan".
"Sarwan is slowly getting used to Murali. He has played him for only the second time. Given time he may be able to cope with Murali better," said Hooper.
"I think Murali is the best spinner in the world without a doubt. He's got wickets in two games and that says it all," he said.
When questioned about a possible 3-0 whitewash by Sri Lanka, Hooper said: "We can't be thinking about whitewashes. You don't want to lose, you want to win.
"But at the end of the day we are learning if we play and lift our game by 10 to 20 percent. Obviously I am disappointed we have already lost the series."
The third and final Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies starts in Colombo on Thursday.
