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West Indies skipper Brian Lara was forced to defend the controversial three changes made to the team which slumped to a crucial World Cup defeat against South Africa on Tuesday.

West Indies dropped pace bowler Jerome Taylor while keeping faith with Ian Bradshaw and Corey Collymore.

Batsman Marlon Samuels and all-rounder Dwayne Smith were also axed in favour of Grenadian left-hander Devon Smith and debutant batsman, Kieron Pollard.

“The fact of the matter is we went for experience. Collymore bowled well on Tuesday,” Lara told the Caribbean Media Corporation.

“Bradshaw over the last couple of years has done good service for West Indies cricket and we went for the experience of the guys who sometimes know what to do in critical situations and that was the team that was selected.

“There were other changes. There was young Smith who came in for Dwayne Smith, young Pollard as well. We just tried something different, tried a different combination to see if it would work.

“We’ve played four games in this Super Eights and before that three games (in the preliminary round). We just wanted to find the right combination and hope and pray that it worked out on the day but again it didn’t.”

The West Indies lost the match by 67 runs to virtually end their hopes of reaching the semifinals.
Source:The News