Lara
PERTH, Australia, CMC;
BRIAN LARA yesterday poured cold water on Australia's apparent preoccupation with becoming the first team to amass 400 runs in a One-Day International innings.
The media here quoted both captain Ricky Ponting and coach John Buchanan at the weekend contemplating the prospect of the World Cup holders establishing new standards of excellence in the game, with Buchanan going so far as to spell out the sort of strategy that may be necessary to reach 400 in 50 overs.
Coming as it did after the hosts had qualified for the finals of the VB Series, and with comments swirling around about a change in the tournament format in future given Australia's stroll through the current competition, the remarks smacked of arrogance and a level of disregard for the other teams in the tri-nation series, the West Indies and Pakistan.
COCKINESS
That cockiness may have been tempered by Australia's loss to the Pakistanis in their final preliminary match on Sunday night, but the general feeling remains that Ponting's squad will steamroll the opposition in two straight matches in the finals, whoever they may be.
"That's only possible against teams like Bangladesh," Lara stated dismissively when the issue of Australia's 400-run target was broached at a media conference.
"I don't think any good bowling attack or good fielding team will allow something like that to happen. It's going to happen at some time, but of what relevance is it to international cricket? It's of little importance really."
Pressed as to what sort of strategy was required to reach such a total, the West Indies captain put the issue in perspective.
"That is for a team at the pinnacle of their game and trying to achieve different things," Lara elaborated.
"We are just trying to win one-day games. Our target is seeing the opposition, dissecting them and trying to get to play better cricket on the day. Focusing on an individual double-hundred or a team total of 400, they (Australia) have the luxury to think that way. We don't."
Sri Lanka hold the record for the highest total in an ODI innings, 398 for five against Kenya in a preliminary of the 1996 World Cup in Kandy.
The Sri Lankans, joint-hosts of the tournament, went on to defeat Australia by seven wickets in the final in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
West Indies' highest total in a one-dayer is 360 for four amassed against the Sri Lankans in Karachi at the 1987 World Cup, which was jointly hosted by Pakistan and India, while Australia's best effort was the 359 for two plundered off India in the final of the last World Cup two years ago in Johannesburg, South Africa.
