Lara: Windies players must work on mental aspect

Former West Indies captain Brian Lara wants the current crop of players to maintain consistency at home to lay the foundation for overseas exploits.

Brian Lara is happy with the kind of cricketers who are currently playing the red-ball format for West Indies.

The iconic Brian Lara is impressed with the talent available in West Indies cricket but he wants the youngsters to work on the “mental aspect” of their game ahead of the Test series against India starting on Thursday.

Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan have been invited by Cricket West Indies to conduct a session with the Test squad before the start of the two-match series.

“Where I feel I can make an impact is their mental approach to the game. I feel as if I was to strike on one thing that I was decent at was mentally where I prepared myself strongly. The practical side is there for the young players but I feel mentally they can grow a little bit and learn a little bit more,” Lara told Windies Cricket’s official website.

The 50-year-old Lara is happy with the kind of cricketers who are currently playing the red-ball format and that’s what prompted him to join the camp.

“I decided to join the camp simply because I feel this present crop of West Indies players, especially in the Test arena, is the right group of players. The talent is there,” he said.

Lara, who scored 11,953 Test runs during his career, wants West Indies to start consistently winning at home in order to build a foundation that will later help them win abroad. The 2-1 Test series win against England is a step in right direction.

“The performance against England to win a series at home, I think is the start of something really good for us. We must lay the foundation at home first before we travel abroad to sort of take command of situations,” Lara said.

Lara, who shared his vast repertoire of knowledge, was happy with the intensity of the players in the camp. “I think the intensity I’ve seen in this camp is very good. The young players are working hard, Floyd Reifer (coach) and his team are actually putting things together pretty good,” he said.

“I’m hoping that I can impart some type of knowledge, some of my experiences to the young batsmen to see if we can get a little bit more out of them because it’s necessary. It’s a good group of young players, we just have to get them thinking in the right way,” he concluded.