WI to play to their strengths

An undaunted Lara, however, promised to make life difficult for the defending champions at the new Sir Viv Richards Stadium. “I know it is a different class of opponents in the game on Tuesday, but we’ve played well against Australia in the recent past and we expect to do well if we play to our strengths,” said Lara.

The elegant left-hander said his side has improved a lot and three wins in the World Cup prove that they are an improved side now.

“We are very consistent. We are building to the point where we want to get onto the bigger games, the Australians, the South Africans, the biggest teams in the tournament. So far, we have performed really well. I’m proud of the guys,” he said.

Lara shares a special relationship with Antigua and it was at the old Antigua Recreation Ground where he created history in 2004 scoring the highest ever Test score of 400. Ponting’s side are on a high after beating bitter rivals South Africa by 83 runs on Saturday but he is not underestimating the hosts here. “The West Indies are a very dangerous team. They are on home soil, they know these conditions very well and they have great crowd support,” he said.

Now that the field has been pruned and teams have their work cut out, Ponting said. “It starts now. Every step you take in this tournament becomes more and more exciting,” he added.