Lara faces big challenge

The pilloried West Indian tourists are looking to gifted batsman Brian Lara to stamp his class and rescue them from a looming disastrous Test series against Australia.

The opening match in the five-Test series gets underway at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday and captain Jimmy Adams, overseeing a West Indian team in decline, is looking to Lara to take an inspirational lead.

The stocks of the once former Caribbean giants have fallen dramatically coming on the back of a humiliating 3-1 series loss to England last September --- their first series defeat to England since 1969, when Lara was born.

Last weekend the tourists crashed to an embarrassing innings and 63-run defeat to an under-strength Victoria inside three days. That followed an emphatic seven-wicket loss to Western Australia in Perth. Bookies have Australia overwhelming favourites to crush the West Indians, some even forecasting a loss inside three or four days.

Never has the need been greater for Lara to master the formidable Australian pace tandem of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.

"Looking back on Brian's career, challenges like these have always brought out the best in him and I don't think this series will be any different," Adams said on Wednesday's eve of the Test.

"He's very much looking forward to the challenge. We all know what lies in front of us, he, like everybody else is, aware of it, and he's really looking forward to going out there and stamping the class."

The Australians, out to equal the West Indies' record of 11 consecutive Test victories stemming back to 1984, are mindful of the potential influence of 31-year-old Lara in the series.

"He's a great player when he's on song," said Australian skipper Steve Waugh on Wednesday.

"He basically won the Test match in Barbados by himself (to put the West Indies 2-1 up in the 1999 series) and in Jamaica, two great innings over there.

"It was a good lesson for us, because we bowled the West Indies out for 51 in the First Test and we probably became a little bit complacent and the next thing we knew we were 2-1 down going into the last Test.

"He's a player who gets stimulated by the bigger occasions and against the better bowlers it tends to fire him up.

"He said in the Caribbean last time that he was going to take the trophy back off us, so he has to back up that statement as well."

Lara, who holds the world record highest score in Tests of 375 against England in Antigua in 1994, has scored five centuries against Australia.

Two of those were double hundreds -- a majestic 277 in Sydney in 1993 and 213 in Kingston in 1999.

Mail Cricket Editor