Two massive victories in qualifying for the ICC Champions Trophy have boosted the confidence of West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara ahead of the main round of the biennial limited-overs tournament.
A victory tomorrow against fellow-qualifier Sri Lanka will put the West Indies in Group B of the main round, which includes Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand. A loss will see the defending champion take on world champion Australia, England and India in Group A.
"It's a very, very important game, we would love to continue the momentum going and so is Sri Lanka," Lara said of tomorrow's match.
PHOTO: AP
"No team wants to pick themselves up from a loss going into the more important stage of the tournament," he added.
The West Indies -- winner of the Champions Trophy in England two years ago -- has lost just one wicket in its two qualifying matches with opening batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle, starring with Lara in both games. It defeated Zimbabwe by nine wickets and registered a thumping 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
"Of course we lost one wicket in two games which again is very good," Lara said. "The guys didn't have opportunities [with the bat] but I think the confidence of winning will definitely flow in the team and I expect a very good and positive result on Saturday."
The West Indies captain had no sympathy with the two bottom-placed sides in the tournament -- Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
"We just need to impose ourselves on the opposition and if the teams are weak, then we should go and win," Lara said.
"There is a difference of class and we showed that, and I am proud of the guys. I don't think we need to be tested," he added.
Despite dominating the qualifiers, Lara was wary of Sri Lanka, which has defeated Bangladesh by 37 runs and humiliated Zimbabwe by 144 runs.
"I think both teams [Sri Lanka and the West Indies] are going to be very competitive [but] West Indies is going to put out their best eleven and we are going to go strongly for a win," Lara said.
After dismissing Zimbabwe for a paltry 85, the West Indies' bowlers fought back impressively in the game against Bangladesh to restrict it to 161.
"The guys are bowling well. [Dwayne] Bravo, who didn't do too well in Malaysia, is coming out good and we all know how good a bowler he is during the series against India in the West Indies," Lara said.
Viral infections to West Indies players is the only worry so far for Lara as Dwayne Smith, Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Fidel Edwards all were hit by illness in India.
"It's hard to quarantine the guys especially if you travel India," Lara said.
South African opener Herschelle Gibbs will not earn an automatic let-off after questioning yesterday in the Indian capital over a match-fixing and betting scandal, police warned.
"If it is established that he did it, we cannot say he will be let off," additional police commissioner Deependra Pathak said as the interrogation started.
The 32-year-old faced "comprehensive" questioning that would cover "all angles of the case," Pathak said. "A criminal case has been registered here and it must meet its logical end."
Gibbs had admitted accepting money from disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje to score fewer than 20 runs against India in a one-dayer during a 2000 March-April tour.
He subsequently scored 74 runs and said he had "forgotten" about the deal, but was suspended and fined by the South African authorities.
Pathak noted that the South African inquiry findings were "not enforceable in India."
The questioning at police headquarters in New Delhi would focus "specifically on whether he took money in cash or through a bank transfer from an Indian bookie based in London" or another bookmaker, a senior police official said.
If Gibbs took money, that would "construe an illegal offense," said the official.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB