West Indies v Zimbabwe, 2nd qualifier, Ahmedabad

'We came here to win this game emphatically' - Lara

Anand Vasu in Ahmedabad

October 8, 2006

'You know Chris Gayle already. I like to entertain and be positive and play a few shots' - Chris Gayle © Getty Images

Post-match press conferences, at the best times, are a good study in contrast, the winners on the day beaming away, chattering excitedly, and the vanquished, heads down, answering in as few words as possible. But the second game of the Champions Trophy saw a particularly bad mismatch, on and off the field. Handed a sound thrashing, the Zimbabwe captain, Prosper Utseya, who might well consider a name change if he stays in his current profession, could only say, "We didn't apply ourselves when we were batting. We tried to play too many shots early on. And at the same time there was some poor shot selection."

Brian Lara, of course, was meeting questions with a booming bat. "We came here to win this game emphatically, and we did that," he said. "The bowlers had to get a run and they got five-six overs under the belt and performed well. We did well in the field too. It doesn't matter what the opposition got - we went out and batted with purpose, which was important."

Lara didn't have much work to do, only 16 minutes at the crease, but even in that he managed one classy square-drive, and put the last nails in the coffin with two big sixes. "I asked [Ramnaresh] Sarwan if I could have a knock, because I didn't play in the practice game. I just wanted to hit a few balls with the middle of the bat, and I was happy to do that," insisting that he didn't come out to bat planning to finish the game off in style. "It just happened. I just thought I should play each ball on its merit. I took the field into consideration as well. Yes I could have gone out there and blocked a few. But I get more confidence from my innings if I approach it the way I did."

At the same time, Lara was not ungracious in defeat. He did concede that "something like 200-plus was definitely on the cards for a team like Zimbabwe," on this pitch, but would not be drawn into suggesting that one-sided matches like this took the sheen off this tournament. "I think it's very important to encourage the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and other lower-ranked teams. They want to get out there and play against the best teams in the world and it's an opportunity for them to spring a surprise on anybody," he said. "If Zimbabwe was not here for this tournament you might say Bangladesh shouldn't be here as well, but they've beaten Pakistan and Australia and you have to give them the opportunity. It's good for cricket on the whole and we just have to accept that."

Sandwiched between the strident Lara and the crestfallen Utseya was a jocular Chris Gayle, the Man-of-the-Match for his breezy 41. "I was feeling a bit weak so I started slowly, and later I tried to be a bit more positive and get it over as quickly as possible," he said, not trying to be politically correct. When asked why he went for the third big hit, and was caught, despite being dropped twice, he choked down a chuckle and said, "It was a bit entertaining as well. You know Chris Gayle already. I like to entertain and be positive and play a few shots. I wasn't taking anything for granted, though, just playing each ball on its merits."

But there was little merit in Zimbabwe's cricket on the day, and Utseya was resigned to this. "It is quite difficult because the morale and the confidence of guys goes down," he said. "To be honest we didn't play to the best of our ability today. I'm sure we can do better in the matches to come."

Anand Vasu is assistant editor of Cricinfo

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