'Only talent can't put aside WI cricket'

Brian Lara feel if not the Caribbean cricket infrastructure is better just talent can't pull the side out of the slump.

"(We) still a very long way to go. I would not have been astonished if we won this game because I know what we are able of - sporadic, good sporadic performance - one here, one next year, but in terms of steadiness, Trinidad, West Indies lack that, and that is not something that you recover overnight," he told the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

"I think our infrastructure is terrible managerially, we have got it wrong on many occasions."

Lara, who scored 11,953 runs in 131 Tests before reserved after the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, said West Indies need to plug the administrative loophole first and then think of humanizing in a decade's time.

"Our player-board relationship - that has gone wrong for many years, gone sour and we need to get better these things, fix it, set a base, get the infrastructure in and then think about five, 10 years down the line.

"So it might be a miserable outlook, but if we keep just trying to put a splash on every sore that we have, it's not going to work. So, I hope one day somebody's going to take it up and really get things going."

West Indies had taken a 95-run first innings lead against India in the opening Test in Delhi but were then bundle out for 180 in their second essay as India fight back to win the Test.

"As I said, on any given day, I think we've got the best gifted cricketers in the world," said Lara.

"It's always been the case over the years, since even before my days ... cricket has gone a long way now. Talent is only a very small part compared to 20, 30 years ago, when it was a major part - your physical fitness, your talent - that played a bigger role.

Lara said Trinidad and Tobago had mismanage the talent.

"Now (with) technology, there is a lot of things coming into play and I say it all the time - we in the West Indies take very good talent and make it average and people (in places) like Australia and England and India take average talent and make it very, very good, and that is where the problem lies," he said.

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Cricket-India win toss and choose to bat in second test

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opt to bat first in the second test next to West Indies at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday.

West Indies bring in paceman Kemar Roach for Ravi Rampaul, who has been admitting in a hospital with a distress stomach, while opener Adrian Barath replaces Kieran Powell.

India retains the same side than won the first test in Delhi to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Teams:

India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav.


West Indies: Adrian Barath, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Carlton Baugh, Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Fidel Edwards, Devendra Bishoo.

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Langer admit Aussie cricket at low position

Former Test star and existing supporter coach Justin Langer admits Australian cricket, in many compliments, has reach rock bottom.

The team's batting counselor has struggle to sleep since the disgrace of considering Australia bowled out for 47 in the loss to South Africa in the first Test at Cape Town.

An exceptional opening batsman throughout the golden era of Australian cricket in the 1990s and 2000s, Langer said there were a number of factors which contribute to their lowest total in 109 years.

Langer decided that the occurrence of Twenty20 and one-day cricket was having a potentially negative crash on the younger generation of players at Test level.

The 40-year-old, who is in the running to be Australia's new head coach, said poor shot selection, an incapability to read the circumstances of the game and possible satisfaction after bowling out the Protease for 96 in the first innings and assuming a 188-run lead, were all partly to blame for the shambles which has brought the team to its knees.

Amid calls for mass selection changes, Langer said it is the largest challenge he has seen Australian cricket face.

"When I made my entrance in 1993 I came into a team of very senior players. Allan Border was the captain, Mark Taylor, the Waugh brothers - a very senior team. From '89 to now we haven't been in a situation like this," Langer said.

"Sport is cyclical, there's no uncertainty about that. Fortunately our cycle went a lot longer than usual.

"The actuality is, we've seen over the past 12 months or a little bit longer, that our cycle has ... I don't know if we've reach the bottom of it yet but I haven't seen it (this low) in my career."

Australia held a not obligatory training session at Newlands on Saturday, but only a handful of squad members participated.

Langer said the low turnout was not an issue because some players need to "freshen up".
The team had an honesty session instantly after the match ended, not even halfway through day three, and vowed to close the book on the debacle and move on as they get ready to square the series in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Langer was sure Australia could turn its fortunes around but admit there were a number of issues that wanted to be addressed.

"I've lost a group of sleep over it. In the past, really good teams would have consideration we're going to do whatever it takes to absolutely bury them," he said.
"Maybe we got a bit relaxed.

"There's game wakefulness. You have to adjust. There are times where, if you played the first morning of a Sydney Test, Steve Waugh would say to Matthew Hayden and myself, 'I'm going to win the toss and bat here. I know it's going to be hard but you're going to have to adjust your game.'

"I'm hearing all the clichés come out, flat-track bullies and you can make it when it's easy.

"We'll cop that on the chin. We have to get better at adjust to circumstances.
"There's absolutely something to that (T20 affecting batting). It's something we've got to be very aware of.

"You can't ever take away that positive intention but you've got to make better shot selection."

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