Lara: Windies must handle England and lively Edgbaston

Legend Brian Lara says the West Indies will have to deal with a boisterous Edgbaston – as well as England’s mercurial white ball side – when they start their ODI series in Birmingham next year.

Lara – who scored 10,405 runs in 299 ODIs – has experienced many Edgbaston full houses during an international career spanning 17 years.

And he believes the way his country’s inexperienced batting line-up handle the occasion and unique Edgbaston atmosphere will have a big impact on the result when the sides meet on Thursday 29 May, 2025.

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“Every time I’ve played here for the West Indies it’s always been a full house,” said Lara, speaking during a recent visit to Edgbaston to mark the 30^th anniversary of his historic 501 innings for Warwickshire.

“It’s tough to get the crowds out in the Caribbean. But when you go to Australia or here in England the players are going to see a true spectator sport. Thousands of people watching from the stands, and they’re going to have to live up to it.

“It’s going to be great. West Indies have a formidable bowling attack but it’s a less experienced batting line-up. They’ll be challenged by England, especially the pace at which the England team play.

“The way England bat, they give you chances. But the way they bat leads the opposing captain to be defensive with field positions and they you start losing attacking positions and the chance to get wickets.

“It should be a fascinating contest.”

Four of the Windies top five in their last ODI – against Australia on 6 February – have just 35 ODIs between them.

But the fifth is Shai Hope. The Windies captain and wicketkeeper is among the world’s most explosive white ball batters and averages more than 50 in ODIs.

Lara added: “We have to find a way to harness the talent we have and see if we can get back to top level competitive cricket, challenging the best sides, sometime in the near future.

“We (the Windies) were the trailblazers, certainly in terms of fast bowling. Aggressive cricket, cricket with flair, but now we find ourselves playing catch-up.

“England are playing very attractive cricket – but we made that game, the Viv Richards, the Sir Garfield Sobers, Gus Logie in the field. We had an air of invincibility about us.

“Maybe we can’t get back to that level but a level where we can play against the best in the world, be competitive and be optimistic of a victory.”

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