Cricket: Lara Wants More Say in Selection

Brian Lara is on a collision course with the West Indies selectors after claiming that his views are being ignored, particularly his pleas for an additional fast bowler in the current Test series against India.

Lara was the mainstay of the drawn second Test in St Lucia on Wednesday, when his 32nd Test century helped salvage an unlikely result and kept the four-match series on an even keel.

But the 37-year-old, who reclaimed the captaincy in April, believes there is a need to supplement the attack with more pace if they are to trouble an India side they have failed to bowl out twice in this series.

"I've spoken to the selectors and I feel it's unfortunate that I'm getting negative feedback," said Lara. "I think that as captain of the team that they should have some sort of trust in that person."

The head coach Bennett King and the former Test players Joey Carew, Gordon Greenidge and Clyde Butts are involved in the selection process and Lara is believed to have pleaded with them to heed his advice.

"I can only make suggestions. I am not there in the meetings." Lara added. "I feel I need that fast bowler. I need that guy that makes the opposition uncomfortable, especially if the pitch is in his favour. We have the home advantage. I'm not asking for anything that's going to raise your eyebrows."

The former Zimbawe spinner Ray Price has set his sights on playing international cricket again - for England - after insisting "my best years are still to come". Price, 30, moved to Worcestershire as a Kolpak player in 2004 and is almost halfway through a four-year qualification period.

"I just wish I could go back five or six years with the same mental approach I have now and apply it," he said. "Everybody wants to play international cricket and I would love to do that again with England. You sit and watch the Test matches and one-day internationals, I really miss that, playing in the heat of battle."