The West Indies captain Brian Lara admits his side need to make vast improvements if they are to progress past the group stage of the Champions Trophy after they were bowled out for 80, their second lowest one-day score ever, on their way to a nine-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in the qualifying round on Saturday.
"We have some issues in front of us that we have to address," said Lara. "If not, we are not going to last very long in this tournament. The guys are aware of that. It was a bit of inept batting and something we just have to work on. But it's better to have a bad day today rather than later."
With both teams already having qualified for the next round, the only issue remaining was to decide to which groups they would progress, and the loss ensured it was West Indies who would have the harder path. They now go into Group A, alongside England, Australia and India, but Lara is remaining upbeat.
"England is a team we have beaten and have a better record against in the past few years," he said. "Australia, of course, is the best team in the world but we are optimistic. Now that we have got rid of this match, we just have to look forward." South Africa take on New Zealand today.
Australia's opening batsman Matthew Hayden is expected to be fit for the Ashes despite injuring his finger in the Pura Cup match for Queensland against Tasmania. "Matthew is in no doubt for the Test match," said the Queensland cricket medical director Simon Carter. "It is very possible he has a small undisplaced fracture, but the x-ray is inconclusive."
The ICC yesterday rejected the idea that umpires could soon be equipped with miniature televisions to aid their decision-making, after the new MCC secretary Keith Bradshaw launched a campaign to bring new technology into the sport.
"Our executive board rejected the further use of technology in July," a spokesman said. "This story suggests that [Bradshaw] is not aware of that decision, but the status quo will certainly remain for the foreseeable future." Bradshaw said that he sees "nothing wrong in the umpire having the benefit of a small screen in his pocket for referral. The whole point of trying to make technology available is to help the umpire arrive at the correct decision, hopefully without wasting time."