Lara looking for birthday bonus

Brian Lara is looking for a birthday bonus in the shape of a series-levelling victory over India in the third Test starting on Thursday.

Lara, scorer of 18 Test hundreds, including the world record 375, celebrates his 33rd birthday on the opening day.

He told Nationsport in Barbados that he was still not fully recovered from the elbow injury sustained last December, but remained committed as ever to the West Indies cause.

"There is nothing that I would love more than a hundred this week, but I am not fully there yet. I am now getting gradually back into the game, I am looking to peak soon, but it is going to take some time.

"Hopefully, my contribution to this match, whether it is a hundred, whatever it is, is going to bring success to the team."

India, without a series win outside the sub-continent since 1986, lead the five-Test series 1-0 going in to the clash at Kensington Oval where they have lost six times in seven matches.

Lara thinks that his side has learned the lessons from the 37-run defeat in last week's second Test at the Queen's Park Oval where he scored 52 and 47.

"I think we have assessed what went wrong in Trinidad and know what we have to do to square the series here," he said.

Mail Cricket Editor