| |
 Lara's lament West Indies star struggles with fitness ahead of World Cup
Posted: Wednesday April 21, 1999 03:31 PM
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (Reuters) -- West Indian captain Brian Lara is struggling to get fit for the start of his team's World Cup campaign in England next month, hampered by a nagging injury to his right wrist. Lara was ruled out of Wednesday's fifth one-day international against Australia at the Bourda Ground in Georgetown because of the injury he first suffered when he was struck on the arm during the West Indies' disastrous tour of South Africa earlier this year. He received medical advice that suggested it would be unwise for him to play in the first four games of the seven-match one-day tournament, which followed the series of four tests, and seems unlikely to play in the two final one-day matches in Barbados as a result. From then it is only three weeks until the West Indies has its opening match of the 12-nation World Cup tournament against Pakistan in Bristol. Lara has been increasingly troubled by the wrist injury, which was originally diagnosed as a cracked bone. During the two one-day matches played in his home town of Port of Spain last weekend, he favored his injured hand in the field and dropped himself down the batting order to number five in both matches. The champion batsman, who was named man of the series for his heroic efforts in the Test matches, has made just 49 runs from four innings in the one-day format. Left-handed batsman Jimmy Adams will captain the West Indies in Lara's absence on Wednesday, even though fast bowler Courtney Walsh was named vice-captain when the 15-man World Cup squad was announced three weeks ago. Australia has made just one change to the team that won by 20 runs at Queen's Park, bringing in seam bowler Paul Reiffel to replace all-rounder Brendon Julian in Wednesday's match.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. | |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
