Lloyd lauds Lara, says Gayle needs right opening partner

Jaipur, Oct 10 (UNI) Throwing his weight behind skipper Brian Lara, former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd said the elegant southpaw was the leading the one day side with aplomb even though they need to do better in longer version of the game.

''He is a pretty shrewd guy and one whom we need at the moment,'' was Lloyd's remarks on Lara.

Lloyd, who is here to support the team and management, is happy with the progress made so far by the ODI team but ''Test cricket is an area where we need improvement,'' he felt.

Under Lara, the ODI team has improved in all the departments of the game but there was a lot of scope for improvement in the longer version of the game, he said.

Lloyd also admitted that the West Indies is yet to provide Chris Gayle a steady opening partner.

''We have a classic opener in Gayle and we are in search of another for Test. The other department which needs attention is fast bowling which is being looked into by the cricket board,'' he said.

Lloyd, meanwhile, seemed hardly amused by the advent of Twenty20 cricket which was making waves back in the Caribbean and asked for his take on the slam-bang version of the game, the former left-hander said, ''It is another facet of the game. It is exciting but I don't know how long it will be around.'' Asked to compare present day cricket with that of his time, he said a number of rules have been changed to make the game more exciting and entertaining. Nowadays fielding has improved tremendously and players take more chances in executing shots, he observed.

Lloyd also called for a bigger role of the Match Referees in international cricket.

''Referees do play an important part in the game. Probably a greater role for the referees in future will help,'' he opined.

UNI PJJ AY PM1804