KINGSTON, Jamaica - Brian Lara has staked his captaincy on the West Indies defeating Bangladesh in the second and final cricket Test, starting today at Sabina Park.
Fully expecting a bowler-friendly pitch and banking on his reconfigured armoury to do the job, Lara created a mild sensation at the pre-match news conference yesterday when he stated that he would resign as captain if the Caribbean side failed to defeat the visitors.
Yet, mere hours later, he seemed to be regretting the bravado of that statement on examining a Sabina Park pitch that showed only a slight tinge of green.
Although the surface is expected to have much more pace and bounce than the surface for the rain-affected first Test at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia, it is not likely to be the same as for last year's corresponding fixture against Sri Lanka when West Indies rallied from a first innings deficit to romp to a seven-wicket win on the third afternoon that gave them the two-match series 1-0.
In the immediate aftermath of that triumph, Lara spoke optimistically about his team turning their previously woeful fortunes around, only to just stagger past Zimbabwe and then suffer 3-0 whippings in South Africa and at home to England.
On the ground where they were demolished for 47 - their lowest ever Test total - by England eight weeks ago, Lara's bold pronouncement seems triggered not so much by overwhelming confidence, but by embarrassment at the resilience and resourcefulness of their opponents in St. Lucia.
A benign surface there blunted any perceived threat from the Caribbean side's four fast bowlers, and in a first Test blighted by a succession of dropped catches from both teams, earning a draw from the depths of 79 for six in their second innings represented a huge improvement by Bangladesh in the wake of a record of 26 losses and two rain-affected stalemates in their previous 28 Tests.
Ironically, one of the West Indies' architects of the series-clinching win over the Sri Lankans could be left out on the ground where he made a sensational Test debut.
Picked at the insistence of Lara and responding by taking five wickets on the first day then, Fidel Edwards could pay the price for poor performances in St. Lucia.
The 22-year-old fast bowler finished with match figures of two for 139 and dropped four catches, generally struggling to recapture the intensity and enthusiasm that has defined his cricket since that surprise call-up.
Even allowing for local sentiment, Jermaine Lawson should be another casualty as he looked short of work on his return to Test cricket. The muscular fast bowler, who has spent the last year remodelling a suspect action and sorting through an assortment of injuries, lacked pace and consistency in Jamaica.
If the Bangladeshis were fearful of him reproducing a spell similar to his devastating figures of six wickets for three runs in the first-ever Test between the two teams in Dhaka 18 months earlier, they were pleasantly surprised by his general ineffectiveness.
Influenced also by the continued failure of the bowlers to make any sort of useful contributions with the bat, Omari Banks and Ravi Rampaul are set to take the places of Edwards and Lawson.
Banks' anticipated selection will mark a return to top-level cricket for the off-spinning all-rounder following recuperation from a stress fracture of the lower back that curtailed his tour of southern Africa last December.
Rampaul, who has impressed in a succession of One-day Internationals since making his senior debut in Zimbabwe last October, should get the chance to play his first Test and with the teenager's tendency to bowl a fuller length than some of his counterparts, may be more effective if the pitch does develop into a batsman's paradise, particularly after the first day. Brimful of confidence after their heartening performance - except in the catching department - in the first Test, Bangladesh are nevertheless under no illusions about the challenge facing them in Kingston.
They have strengthened their line-up by omitting Faisal Hossain, who made his debut in St. Lucia, and including left-arm spin bowler and determined batsman Manjural Islam Rana in the only change from their First Test squad.
Facing defeat on the final morning at Beausejour, they resolved to fight it out as a tribute to their coach Dav Whatmore, who has travelled to Australia following the death of his brother-in-law.
In the midst of grief in Melbourne, he would have taken pride in Bangladesh's determination, but must know that the effort was just one small step forward on the long road to respectability. Lara's pre-match challenge may be symptomatic of the lack of respect internationally for Bangladesh as a top-level cricketing nation, but the visitors may seek to use those fighting words as their own motivation, particularly as the West Indies have had precious little to cheer about over the last seven years. (Windiescricket.com)
Squads: WEST INDIES (from): Brian Lara (captain), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Ridley Jacobs, Omari Banks, Tino Best, Ravi Rampaul, Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards, Jermaine Lawson.
BANGLADESH: Habibul Bashar (captain), Hannan Sarkar, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahman, Manjural Islam Rana, Khaled
Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Tareq Aziz.
UMPIRES: Daryll Harper, Jeremy Lloyds, TV Replays: Billy Doctrove, Reserve: Norman Malcom.