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World Cup: Strang strikes brief spark amid Lara's show of flair

West Indies (155-4) beat Zimbabwe (151-9) by 6 wickets

Under spectacular light and in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd in Hyderabad yesterday, Brian Lara returned to the international stage. The world's finest batsman had an exciting game; finished it, in fact, with a mighty blow over mid-off for six and the West Indies had a most satisfactory day brushing aside the potentially bullish Zimbabweans by six wickets and with 20 overs to spare.

Thankfully for the occasion, Lara's flair was matched by Brian Strang's leg spin as all four West Indian wickets fell to crafty bowling, albeit with a fluke thrown in. The pitch was a good one, though it became slower as the ball became softer and Strang found plenty of turn which gave a vivid reminder to the competition of the power of the wrist spinner and his value on the subcontinent.

The other teams will have also been reminded that the West Indians are not to be taken lightly. They may not be the formidable force of old but they are not spent and, clearly, some tough talking has galvanised their approach.

Curtly Ambrose, the man of the match, began the day with his radar all over the place and a nine-ball over. Andy Flower, the Zimbabwe captain, who won the toss and chose to bat, started the day with a characteristically stolen single, one that his brother, Grant, only marginally made, but did not have time for any more as, in Ambrose's second over, he fell to a wicked bouncing delivery which beat his forward defence.

The younger Flower, who has added some strokes to his stubborn resistance, drove Courtney Walsh down the ground and smashed Ambrose on the up and wide of extra cover during his pleasant innings before Ottis Gibson clung to an instinctive return catch.

This triggered a short but fatal silly season for Zimbabwe as, first, Alastair Campbell was brilliantly run out by Lara's liquid one-handed pick up and direct hit from square leg and then, an over later, Guy Whittall took on Ian Bishop at mid-on and lost by half a yard.

Bravely as Andre Waller, Craig Evans and Strang manoeuvred the ball about, none of the West Indian bowlers was stretched and their tidy figures reflected a useful work-out. The one-day rule which outlaws the bumper denies the tall, fast bowlers their most brutal weapon, but they can bowl an awkward length and a good yorker and rarely are they easy to dominate.

It needed an immediate wicket or two to get the knees knocking in the West Indian dressing room and Heath Streak stormed in, beating Sherwin Campbell around off stump and forcing Richardson to mis-hook.

But the force was not with them and the West Indies hurried along to 78 by the 20th over when Strang began his magic.

Richardson was caught at slip, cutting; Campbell out-thought by the googly; Chanderpaul, having hit his first two balls for four, was confused by a high full toss; and Arthurton gloved a googly to slip. All the while, Lara did his own thing, driving and pulling with amazing power.