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The West Indies batting woes are becoming a problem and players that don’t pull their weight face the axe, captain Brian Lara has warned.

The West Indies capitulated again on Wednesday against India in their DLF Cup one-day match, bowled out for 146 as they chased 163 to win. They were 44-0 at one stage but slumped to 97-7 before Lara’s unbeaten 40 made a match of it. In their game against Australia the West Indies lost nine wickets for 29 runs.

As so often happens, the onus falls on Lara, now 37, and other senior players like Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan to put runs on the board. “It shows that a few of the guys are out of form, they are lacking in confidence. We tried to use the game against India to see if we could gain anything out of it in that department,” said Lara. “The guys batting six, seven and eight were pushed up the order to see if they could show a little bit of responsibility. That never happened,” he added.

Lara said he still had confidence in people like Marlon Samuels, Wavell Hinds, Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo but they must seize their opportunities.

“Well I have to continue (with the players) until the end of the ICC Champions Trophy because the team is already selected for that and all the guys here will be in that tournament,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean that I have lost faith in them. I still have confidence that they can play. I think they are decent cricketers,” he remarked.

But asked how long he and the selection committee could persist with them, Lara said: “I feel there are people knocking on the door and if these guys don’t take their opportunity now they are going to be replaced.”

While the batsmen have been lacking, the West Indies bowling has performed much better, and Lara is pleased with that.

“I am getting a little happier in that area,” he said. “The cause for concern is in the batting,” he explained.

Source:The News