Lara blames hectic schedule for Windies loss

"I know everyone's disappointed in the dressing room and in the Caribbean, but we've still got a job to do. It was tough, we've had four games in 10 days and you could feel some of the guys were a bit flat in the outfield," said Lara.

West Indies lost by a huge margin of 113 runs to Sri Lanka Sunday in a Super Eight match.

"We've got to pick up and fight because you never know what can happen," the West Indies captain was quoted by the BBC as saying.

Lara admitted that veteran Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya took the game away from the West Indies with a swashbuckling century.

"I thought the first 15 overs went really well. We had them at 50/2 but then they batted really well. After the 15th over, Jayasuriya jumped on us and the next few overs cost something like 50 runs, which set the tone for the innings," he said.

"Credit must be given to Jayasuriya and captain (Mahela) Jayawardene for their partnership."

West Indies lost to Australia, a game that was played over two days because of rain delays, then subsequently to New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the Super Eight stage.

The Windies skipper suggested that the hectic schedule had also affected his pace bowler Daren Powell.

"He (Powell) seems to have dropped about 10 kilometres in the last few days," said Lara.

West Indies now have three matches remaining in this round and will be back in action April 10 when they face South Africa in Grenada, before facing Bangladesh and England in Barbados.

"We're going to have a couple of days off and re-assess the situation. We have to be sure we are fresh for the last three matches," Lara added.

Despite three successive defeats, Lara was optimistic that the West Indies could still qualify for the semi-final phase.

"It has been dismal and we've just got to focus on what we've got left. Our last game in this round is on April 21 and we would like a match-up against England for that final spot - there is a permutation allowing that," he said.

Lara admitted that he would be watching games on television over the next few days hoping that Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa do not seal semi-final places.

"It still boils down to us beating South Africa, Bangladesh and England to give us a glimmer of hope. No permutations can help if we don't do that job," he added.

(IANS)

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