Former greats Brian Lara and Shane Warne have asked the West Indies to launch a ferocious front-on assault on the Australians
As Chris Gayle rushes back in time for tomorrow's Brisbane Test vowing to pledge his century in the Test to his convalescing mother, former greats Brian Lara and Shane Warne have asked the West Indies to launch a ferocious front-on assault on the Australians.
With former Test players, the media and bookmakers writing off the prospects of the visitors against a resurgent home side, former West Indies captain Lara yesterday said the West Indians must meet fire with fire from the first ball at the Gabba if they hope to pull off a stunning win. The Windies have not won a Test at the ground in 21 years.
Shane Warne, a close friend of Lara, advocated a similar approach saying the West Indies must make a pact they will not be "bullied" by the Aussies, with senior batsmen Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan needing to adapt an overtly hostile attitude.
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"Their attitude has to be one of 'we have nothing to lose, let's get in the face of the Aussies and be more aggressive'," Warne said.
Lara believes the Windies have nothing to lose and, therefore, are under little pressure. He says they have to follow England's successful Ashes-winning blueprint from earlier this year.
"Australia is not a team that you can hope to come from behind against. It's as simple as that.
"You just have to play Australia from in front. That's what England did and it worked well. You are not going to grind Australia into the ground and beat them in the last session on the fifth day.
"Australia is in a very strong position. They could have won the Ashes or lost the Ashes and it would not have mattered... they would still be very, very hard to beat for the West Indies."
Gayle's plans to fly in a private jet to Brisbane from Jamaica, where his mother is recuperating from a heart condition, were thwarted by a drunken pilot.
The West Indies captain posted on his Twitter page: "Couldn't use my private jet pilot was too drunk so commercial all the way. Brisbane here CG come (stet) an (stet) of course I fired him u2013 yall big up one luv".
Asked by a follower of his page if he would dedicate a century to his mother and other centuries to his fans, Gayle replied: "need 1 for mom for sure lol (stet) the rest for yall."
Windies coach David Williams said yesterday there would be a strong temptation for his team to field first if it won the toss to allow the captain more time to recover from the exhausting journey. (He has travelled 44,517 kilometres in 11 days between his home and Australia).
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