da winzada777： Brian Lara and Michael Hussey spoke to the media at the end of the match
Dileep Premachandran at Kuala Lumpur18-Sep-2006
For Brian Lara the win was an obvious morale-booster © Getty Images
Brian Lara was guarded in his praise after West Indies swept to athree-wicket victory over Australia that clinched their place in Sunday’sfinal. While he was impressed with his bowlers’ efforts early on, andunderstandably delighted with the manner in which he and Chris Gayleclattered the bowling to all parts, there was also a tinge of concern atthe late stutter that nearly allowed Australia a route back into thecontest.”There were a couple of errors that were a bit worrying,” he said afterthe game. “I think we did pretty well in the first 20 overs but Australiastill had two recognised batsmen in [Michael] Hussey and [Brad] Haddin. Wethought the score would be 175 or 225, but they batted well. Our battingdepartment had a hiccup as well but we’ve got some time now till the finaland hopefully will get some good practice.”Lara and Gayle lashed out after a slow start, taking 151 from 19.3 overs.Stuart Clark suffered the most, going for a whopping 87 from his sevenovers. Lara insisted though they hadn’t targeted Clark as a weak link.”The way Chris bats, he plays as he sees it,” he said. “Someone’s got togo at some stage, and Clark happened to be the unlucky one. We knew we hadto keep scoring at five or more runs an over throughout. We were a bitbehind at the beginning and Chris accelerated in the middle overs.”Gayle, a man of few words, was suitably concise when asked about histactics. “I tried not to give away my wicket and decided to stick aroundso that things will come easy at the end,” he said. “I’m a slow starter, Itake a couple of overs, but if the ball is in the slot I’ll definitelytake advantage of it.”The loss of four wickets for 13 runs late on created a flutter, but Laracontinued to repose faith in his middle order. “I have confidence in myplayers and I feel that it’s going to come right,” he said. “[Dwayne]Bravo took his time to get in and batted very well. The likes of WavellHinds, Dwayne Smith and Marlon Samuels have scored runs [before]. So Iexpect them to come good, their confidence is sure to grow and the guyswill knit together and get things going for us.”He was clearly pleased with his own innings, a dazzling 80-ball 87 thatended only with an injudicious hook at Brett Lee. “I played each ball onits merit,” he said. “A bad ball is a bad ball, a good ball is a goodball, you’ve got to respect that. I didn’t see any need to create shots.”For Michael Hussey, his first game as captain ended badly, though he didhave the consolation of scoring a sparkling century. “I’m reallydisappointed at the moment with the loss,” he said. “We had a great chancetoday to win and go into the final. We haven’t done that. Tonight, when Igo back and reflect, I’ll be very pleased with scoring a hundred forAustralia and having the honour of captaining my country.”According to him, indiscipline had played a major part in the reverse.”There were certainly too many sundries [extras] today, and that’ssomething we’ll have to address before the India game,” Hussey said.”We’ve got to play well to make the final now. I thought the pitch wasbecoming more difficult. It was taking some spin, and was a little bit upand down. I thought we could defend 273, but we gave away too manysundries at the start.”Having come to the wicket at 64 for 4, Hussey was satisfied with themanner in which he led the recovery. “At the time I came in, we were in alittle bit of trouble. I just wanted to try and resurrect the innings asmuch as I could, and I was lucky I found good allies in Matthew Hayden andBrad Haddin. We just wanted to try and bat as much time as we could andthen kick on after that to get ourselves into a strong position. I wasreally happy with the way Haddin played. I think he’s been threatening tomake a big score, and today he played brilliantly.”There was sympathy too for Clark. “It was a probably a day that he’ll wantto forget, but he’s a very level-headed guy, and he’ll come back betterand stronger,” Hussey said. “There’s no need to panic. He’ll make someadjustments and he’ll come back.”The Australians made seven changes from the side that played India, butHussey was sure that the rotation policy had not undermined the team’schances. “The selectors had picked the teams beforehand, so we knew therewere going to be some changes coming into this game,” he said. “The guysthat have come in haven’t played much cricket. It’s about us trying toplay as well as we can to make the final, and also preparing the guys,because we’ve had such a long break, for the upcoming ICC ChampionsTrophy.”He refused to be too critical of his top order, some of whom playedrecklessly to get out. “A lot of the guys haven’t played a lot of cricketfor some time, so we are going to be rusty,” he said. “It’s going to taketime to get back into our batting routine. As batsmen, we need to investsome time and find our rhythm.”They will rotate the line-up once again for the India game on Friday, andthen decide on a team for the final, should they make it. Lara, though,refused to accept that West Indies had come up against a weakened side.”This team is as strong as the ones that played the first two games, withthe likes of Brett Lee, Hussey, Symonds and Hayden coming in. Yes, theymissed Ponting and McGrath but they were favourites going into the game.It’s their problem that they have too many players and don’t know whom toplay. But we are focusing on our team and working really hard. We are notranked high but are working to get up there. We are very humble about it.”
The loss of four wickets for 13 runs late on remains a worry for the Windies © Getty Images
He also hinted at changes for the match against India on Wednesday. “We’dlove to have Collymore on the park, and also Morton,” he said. “We’d liketo see all our 14 guys have a go. With the inconsistency in the middleorder, Morton could be the one for the final. He would definitely have anopportunity on Wednesday.”Having played so poorly over the past two seasons that they have topre-qualify for the Champions Trophy, Lara was understandably delightedabout getting the better of two higher-ranked teams in the league matches.”It was important that we get to the final,” he said. “We did not comehere to play games and watch the final. We have a camp here for an extraweek afterwards, so why not play on Sunday? To have the camp start onThursday would have been disappointing.”Though it ended in defeat, Hussey, the popular choice on the Baggy Greenwebsite to succeed Ponting as captain, said he enjoyed the experience. “Ienjoyed trying to come up with new ideas to find a wicket, or how we weregoing to keep it tight. I’m also lucky that I had some very experiencedcricketers around me to give me some help. I enjoyed watching the wayBrian Lara constructed his innings as well, and trying to play somemind-games with him. We were trying to get him to play shots in certainareas, but he played brilliantly today.”There was also advice from a familiar figure, with Ponting ferrying drinkson to the field. “A couple of times when he came on, I was desperate forsome help,” said Hussey. “He’s very calm and doesn’t worry about too manythings.”And asked if he might have done anything differently, he harked back tothe phase when Lara was new to the crease. “The only thing I might havechanged was to bowl Brett Lee one [over] less in his first spell, andgiven him a chance at Brian as soon as he came in.” he said. “The problemwas that we got a wicket right after Brett had just finished his spell,and he was a bit tired after his first five overs.”As it turned out, even a late burst from Lee couldn’t deny Lara, or WestIndies. And this result, like that against India, illustrated once againwhy rankings mean precisely nothing when it comes to a side that can beatanyone when they’re in the mood.