Lara says weather not ideal for India series

Basseterre, St Kitts, June 27 (UNI) After blaming the pitches for the drawn matches so far, West Indies skipper Brian Lara has questioned the scheduling of the Test series against India, saying that the weather is not ideal to play cricket in the Caribbean at this time of the year.

''We lost an entire day in St Lucia...so it's a bad time of the year to be playing cricket ...because it is June month and I don't know why we are playing Cricket this time of the year and it has been happening for the last four or five years (rain-interruptions) and I think it is unfortunate,'' Lara said.

Lara said the matches should have been scheduled early in the year to have complete matches but said there was hardly anything he could do to change the situation.

''There is no international cricket in the West Indies in the months of February and March when the sun is out, but we just have to accept it because that is the situation,'' Lara added.

Weather has caused disruptions at various stages of the last two Test matches and has contributed to the drawn results alongwith the batting-friendly pitches.

Lara's views were echoed by former West Indies opener Desmond Haynes, who called on the ICC to review the timing of matches in the Caribbean as it was causing losses to all the stakeholders of Windies cricket.

''They need to look at the schedule for the Caribbean because the timing is bad and it is costing the WICB great losses since not many people are coming to the matches, the arrangements for television are different and the sponsorship is not able to cover any major shortfall,'' Haynes said.

He alleged that the ICC was well aware of the situation but has chosen to turn a blind eye to it and has cleverly scheduled next year's World Cup in the driest part of the year.

''It is their World Cup, so they have made every effort to put it where there is the least chance of it being troubled by the rainy weather,'' Haynes said.

UNI XC PM PDS PC1348