Walsh and Lara ready for Tests
Courtney Walsh and Brian Lara will both be ready to face Australia in next week's first Test despite a lack of match practice, West Indies captain Jimmy Adams said Wednesday.
Walsh and Lara have yet to play a first-class match on tour, settling for Friday's four-day game against Victoria in Melbourne as their only hitout before the first Test begins at Brisbane's Gabba ground next Thursday.
Lara has hamstring trouble but he has kept in form with centuries in two festival matches while the 38-year-old Walsh has bowled just six overs on tour.
But the world's leading Test wicket-taker looked as smooth as ever when he conceded just four runs against a Northern Territory Invitation XI in Alice Springs Tuesday in his first workout.
Walsh was satisfied and that was good enough for Adams, who needs the veteran strike bowler to guide the Windies through a Test series he has been labelled "the greatest challenge in world cricket".
"Courtney calls the shots and tells me how he feels," Adams said.
"He bowled six overs and said he was grooving pretty well. At his age that would do for me.
"If the rhythm is there, he's happy. I've seen Courtney not play before Test matches but he goes to the nets and comes away saying 'the rhythm is there, the rhythm is there - I feel good'."
That was the case in England earlier this year when Walsh rested from all three lead-up matches before the first Test in Edgbaston.
He then came out and rattled England with figures of 5-36 in the first innings before finishing the series with 34 wickets at an average of 12.82 - lifting his career tally to 483 Test scalps.
Lara didn't have as much fun in England, scoring 239 runs at 26.55, but the influential left-hander has convinced Adams he is ready for the battles with the likely Australian pace trio of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie.
Lara's hamstring is still causing problems, making him look tentative in Alice Springs, but Adams is not worried.
"It's different for batsman than bowlers because you need that confidence of spending time in the middle, hitting balls and hitting balls," Adams said.
"Batsmen might have rhythm in the nets but they still want that time and pressure in the middle and Brian recognises that."
Lara has batted for almost four hours on tour and the 31-year-old has already said he wants to match that total during the Victoria game.
Adams said the Windies would name a line-up "as close to the Test team as possible" but he was non-committal about the spots up for grabs.
Rookie paceman Kerry Jeremy is the only player unavailable while he recovers from a broken jaw suffered in the Windies' seven-wicket loss to Western Australia last week.
Mail Cricket Editor
