BRIDGETOWN, (Reuters) - West Indies captain Brian Lara justified his surprising decision to send Australia to bat in the third test yesterday, saying that his team perform better when they bat second.
``The answer's simple,'' Lara told reporters after Australia had reached 320 for three by the close of the first day on an excellent batting pitch.
``I need my batsmen to bat in the fourth innings.''
``We bat better when we know exactly what we have to do,'' he said, adding that he believed the pitch would hold up.
Lara's decision surprised Australia vice-captain Ricky Ponting, who made 113 as he hit a century for the third test match running.
``We were surprised to get sent in and we have capitalised,'' he said.
``There's no grass on it at all, it's a bit like a one-day pitch.''
``These have been some of the easiest pitches I have batted on in my test career,'' he added, referring to the pitches in Georgetown, Port of Spain and Bridgetown.
``There's very little bounce and the pace has been very even every time.''
Lara said that West Indies were bowled out just after tea in Guyana in the first test, the only match in the series in which they have batted first.
He added that although Australia made 320, they were still 70 runs short of their first day total in the second test in Port of Spain.
``It was a good effort from a younger attack, it was not discouraging,'' he insisted. ``It was a decent day for Australia and it was a decent day for us.''
``It's another good opportunity for the batsmen. It's an opportunity for our batsmen to go out and bat for as long as possible.''
``I hope the young fast bowlers are not going to get discouraged. They are going to get weaker batting line-ups and better bowling tracks.''
Lara did not want to dwell on his team's fielding after Justin Langer was dropped twice early on before making 78. Ponting also had a couple of let-offs.
``Of course, when you are playing the best team in the world, you want to take every half chance so it's a bit unfortunate but it's not time to sit back and get depressed about anything.''