'We have bigger fish to fry' - Lara

First came a sigh; then came the standing ovation. The moment the third umpire flashed the red light, declaring Brian Lara out for 36, he smiled. A wave of disappointment engulfed the ground - like some giant party being pooped - before Lara began his quick walk back to the pavilion. His final one-day innings at home had just been cut short, but Lara wasn't going to moan. He was going to enjoy every moment of his walk back to the pavilion, saluting those who had watched him on his home turf.

"It's a difficult situation, knowing that I might not play ODI cricket here again," he said when asked about his thoughts. "I've had a great time playing in Trinidad and Tobago. As I exited the field, Bravo took over things. He's from Santa Cruz and probably the next one to look forward to, locally at least. I've enjoyed my time and the public at T&T have enjoyed me playing here. The public pay to watch cricket and at the end of it both parties usually leave saying 'you've done a good job'. I must thank the public for their support through the years. I would love to play another Test match here. It may not happen in 2007. But I hope this is not the last."

Though he preferred to talk about the win, one that was achieved without a number of key players, Lara added that it wouldn't make too much of a difference when the Test series gets underway. "What we won today has to do with one-day cricket. We won without Collymore [injured during the game], Chanderpaul, Edwards, Samuels - key players in our team. Psychologically we know they're down but they are aware that we're starting afresh on Friday. We now have to come up and face them full on ... play competitive cricket and win the big points. You need to play well over 15 sessions. I will take nothing much from here into the Test series.

"I think this is a great performance. We played the first game against Zimbabwe on April 29. I think we've won 10 of our last 11 games, and that's including the last match in New Zealand. That is a very, very good run. I'm proud of the guys. But we have bigger fish to fry. We came in with confidence but this is just five days of cricket against India. We have 20 days of cricket to go. That is the ultimate test. We're going to enjoy this but we know how important the next few weeks are."

When asked what the most satisfying part of this team's victory was, Lara revealed that he'd been thoroughly satisfied with their planning ahead of the games. "What I've enjoyed and noticed about the team - I'm not going to go into details - is that 9 o' clock meeting before practice and sometimes 6 o' clock meeting in the afternoon is where we win the game. That's exactly where we won the games. We discuss different things and come out of the meeting coming really, really strong and confident."

But what had gone wrong with India? Lara spoke about excessive cricket being one of the reasons but added that the main difference had been the absence of one man. "I think the West Indies team is a better one-day team than this Indian team. Sachin Tendulkar will make a difference in any series. He is such a key player. He wasn't there for the Super Series and we lost everything. He has over 300 ODIs and is the best batsman in the world."