Pollard, Bravo must be back for tri-series: Brian Lara

Former West Indian skipper Brian Lara wants to see the return of the likes of Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo for next month’s tri-nations series involving Australia and South Africa. Both players have been overlooked by selectors for ODIs since the controversial abandoned limited overs tour of India last year but Lara said having them involved in T20Is alone was a backward step.

“In terms of the Tri-Nations, I think it’s going to be a pretty exciting Tri-Nations series,” the former West Indies captain said on Wednesday.

“And hopefully we can have the likes of Pollard and Bravo – some guys who have not played that form of the game (recently) – back in the team because they are integral of any West Indies team.”

“Just to have them for the T20 version I think is doing a disservice to the West Indies cricket.”

The non-selection of Pollard and Bravo has resulted in controversy over the last year, and was at the heart of an outburst by the West Indies coach Phil Simmons, who claimed there was “outside influence” on selectors, in keeping them out of the squad.

Bravo is a veteran of 164 ODIs and is just 32 runs short of 3000 runs and one wicket shy of 200 scalps in the format. Pollard, meanwhile, has struck three centuries in 91 ODIs, and taken 44 wickets with his slow medium pace bowling. Under the West Indies Cricket Board regulations, neither player is eligible for the tournament after failing to participate in January’s Regional Super50.

The tri-nations series, which runs from June 3-26 in Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis and Barbados, will act as a precursor to a four-Test series against India, starting in July. And Lara, who plundered 11,953 runs from 131 Tests, believes the West Indies will have to be at their best against an in-form India side, despite having the advantage of home conditions.

“You saw their (India) performances against Australia … and not just in India but also playing away from home, there have been great performances,” Brian Lara noted.

“I do believe that playing in home conditions is a slight advantage. I’m hoping that Phil Simmons is doing his homework (and) getting his players ready to play good Test cricket.

“For us West Indians, we’re not too disappointed if we get defeated playing hard cricket. I think what is very disappointing is when the team falls apart and we look like we don’t know anything about cricket at all.”

The West Indies are coming off their capture of the World Twenty20 in India last month, where they beat England in the final to win the tournament for the second time in five years.

Lara, who finished with 34 Test hundreds and the records for the highest Test and first-class scores, said the West Indies players now needed to transform the same level of enthusiasm from T20s into the Test arena. “If we can get the guys playing the longer version of the game with the same sort of exuberance, with the same sort of fight, it would be better but it’s not in us,” said Lara.

“The skill is there but that sort of attrition level, that willingness to stay out there and play cricket for five days and beat the opposition on the fifth afternoon, is not in our cricketers. We need to bring that back,” Brian Lara conceded.

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