Lara tells team to stay focused

West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara warned his teammates against being complacent during the one-day series against Sri Lanka.

The West Indies go into the three-match series, which begins in Barbados on Saturday, high on confidence following victories in the last three matches of the one-day series against Australia, which the latter won 4-3.

"We have to stay away from overconfidence," Lara said. "We have to keep the guys competitive, keep them honest and make sure they know that it's going to be also a very tough task."

The 34-year-old ace batsman said expectations will be high in the Caribbean despite Sri Lanka not being as strong as Australia.

"The people of the Caribbean will be expecting us to do well."

Besides the one-day victories last month, the West Indies also won the fourth and final Test against Australia with a historic fourth innings run chase. Australia won the Test series 3-1.

"The way we have ended both Test and one-day series, we are on an upward mobility and we are looking forward to more successes," Lara said.

"The guys are full of confidence," Lara said, "but they also have the fear in their minds of the Sri Lankans and how good they are."

Coach Gus Logie echoed Lara's sentiments.

"We started something in terms of a process," Logie said. "It's one day at a time, one game at a time, one season at a time, one series at a time."

Following the four one-dayers, Sri Lanka and the West Indies will play two Test matches.

Dalmiya skips Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee meetings

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya skipped the Tour Programme and Fixture Committee meeting, in Mumbai on Saturday, to discuss the dates and venues for the forthcoming two-Test home series against New Zealand and a triangular One-Day International series with Australia as the third team in October-November.

Board secretary S K Nair said before the commencement of the meeting that Kamal Morarka would chair the meeting and a tentative itinerary for the two Tests and triangular tournament would be released to the media in the evening.

The five zonal members attending the meeting are Mahendra Pandav (North zone), A N Mate (West), D Narvekar (South), Dr B K Mishra (East) and N R Chaudhary (Central).

Nair, who is convenor of the meeting, said that two invitees would be BCCI treasurer Kishore Rungta and Mumbai Cricket Association joint secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty.

Sri Lanka to appoint John Dyson as national coach

Sri Lanka said on Friday it will appoint former Australian Test player John Dyson as the island's national cricket coach to replace sacked Dav Whatmore.

The newly-elected Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka said it is about to sign a memorandum of understanding with Dyson to coach the national team from August.

"By July 6, we will have him here meeting with you," BCCSL's new president Thilanga Sumathipala told reporters at Colombo a few hours after defeating former World Cup winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga to take the top administration job.

Dyson coached New South Wales after retiring from Test cricket.

Whatmore was sacked in March afer Sri Lanka bowed out of the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Former stars hail BCCI's move to improve domestic tourneys

Former Test stars on Friday hailed the BCCI's move to improve domestic tournaments by calling a meeting of captains and coaches of first class teams.

"It is a step in the right direction by the Board as the domestic tournaments, like Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy, were losing their sheen with very meagre spectator turn outs," Madhya Pradesh captain Amay Khurasia said.

"This kind of meetings will certainly help improve the shortcomings of such tournaments. I feel the Board should also involve the umpires and match observers in future meetings", he added.

Former Indian opener Lalchand Rajput, who was coach of the Assam team last year and also the newly elected joint secretary of Mumbai Cricket Association, said: "It was a frank and lively discussion and such meetings will do a world of good for the future of the game."

Former international stars who attended the meeting included ex-skipper Mumbai Paras Mhambrey, Delhi coach and captain Bishen Singh Bedi and Vijay Dhaiya, Haryana skipper Ajay Ratra, Karnataka captain Venkatesh Prasad, Hyderabad captain Venkatpathi Raju and coach Arshad Ayub, Uttar Pradesh skipper Nikhil Chopra, Punjab skipper Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Bengal vice captain Uttpal Chatterjee and Bhupendra Singh.

Board secretary S K Nair, officials Kishore Rungta, Kamal Morarka and Jyoti Bajpai and committee members Niranjan Shah and Prof R Shetty also attended the meeting.