Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Lara Thrilled by young guns


West Indies captain Brian Lara was pleased to see the young stars in the Caribbean side playing so well in the World Cup victory over Pakistan.

"It's important the youngsters seize this moment," said Lara, 37, who is playing in his fifth World Cup.

"This is not a World Cup for the experienced players. We are going to be tapping on the shoulders of the younger guys, telling them we want to win.

"Today they came through for us and that was really special."

Jamaican batsman Marlon Samuels hit 63, Trinidadian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo took three wickets and Dwayne Smith was man-of-the-match with a quick 32 and three massive wickets.

It was their collective contribution that pleased the home captain the most in the 54-run win in Kingston.

Lara added: "Our confidence is going to be sky high now. We are going to have to come down a couple of levels to get the guys ready for the next game."

Home support could be a huge assistance for the hosts, and Lara said it was good to see so much passion from the fans after their nine-wicket loss to India in the final warm-up in Trelawny.

He said: "It's nice to have the support as well. Even after Trelawny, we knew we were going to have the support of the people."

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