Lara confident heading into Tests with New Zealand

Brian Lara is gradually regaining his complete range of strokes as he walks the long road back to full fitness, the West Indies's record-breaking batsman said on Thursday.

The day before the start of the first Test against New Zealand, the left-hander said his confidence was higher than it had been at any time since he fractured a bone in his elbow in a collision with a Sri Lankan fielder last December.

"I am feeling much more confident than I did going into the (recent) India series because the injury is much better, and I am able to play a wider variety of shots as my hand speed comes back," he said.

The West Indies won the series against India 2-1 but Lara struggled for form, leaving some of his fans to ask whether he had been forced back into action too quickly.

Lara and the West Indies side have since received another confidence boost from the 3-1 victory in the one-day series against New Zealand.

FLOWING SHOTS

He was not the most influential figure in the series, but began to produce the flowing shots that had been largely absent against India. Particularly satisfying was his undefeated 59 in the game in St Lucia.

"This really helped boost my confidence in both mental and physical terms," Lara said.

While not a classic Lara innings, his 47 in the final one-day game in St Vincent on Sunday was another job well-done.

Lara also unleashed in that match the cuts and pulls that have been absent from his repertoire since he sustained the elbow injury.

"I had not played a cut shot at all until the St Vincent game because you need full extension of the arm. But I put one of these through backward point on Sunday which was very pleasing," Lara said.

"In cricketing terms I am about 90 per cent but you can see just by looking at it that the injury and arm extension are still only about 75 per cent," he said holding out his left arm.

"I will soon be going back into physiotherapy to do all the painful stretching work that I can't do while I am playing cricket," he said.

"I am now very confident that in these two Tests against New Zealand I will be able to give quite a good account of myself."

Mail Cricket Editor