Castries, St Lucia: Captain Brian Lara admitted his frustration with West Indies’ cricket selectors on Wednesday and pleaded with them to try to fight India with express-pace bowling in the drawn test series.
"I've spoken to the selectors and I feel that it's unfortunate that I'm getting a negative feedback," Lara said after the second test ended in a draw on Wednesday. "I think that as captain of the team, that they should have some sort of trust in that person."
The 37-year-old Lara is in his third term as skipper but, for the first time, does not enjoy the benefits of being a selector.
That job falls with head coach Bennett King and former test players Joey Carew, Gordon Greenidge and Clyde Butts.
Lara begged the four-man panel to finally heed his pleas, which have so far been ignored.
"I can only make suggestions. I am not there in the meetings," Lara explained.
"But it is a simple fact that I want somebody bowling at 90 miles per hour. Fidel Edwards got injured but we have a couple of guys in Tino Best and Jermaine Lawson. You know, pick one."
Edwards, the fastest of the West Indies bowlers on show in the series, was impressive in the drawn opening test at Antigua before a right hamstring injury ruled him out for six weeks.
"I feel I need that fast bowler. I need that guy that makes the opposition uncomfortable, especially if the pitch is in his favor," Lara said.
Lawson and Best are 24 and have previously appeared for West Indies.
Jamaican Lawson was under suspicion for a suspect action but has subsequently been cleared by the International Cricket Council. He has taken 51 wickets in 13 tests.
Best, from Barbados, has been less successful, with his 12 matches producing 26 wickets.
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"We know the Indian team loves flat wickets," Lara said. "They love the ball with nothing bouncing above waist high. They love it.
"You saw (Virender) Sehwag bat in this particular test match. He was actually chipping down to the fast bowlers in the first session.
"I still feel that it's necessary to have that genuine fast bowler against India for the remainder of the series. I'm still hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that the selectors could at least think in the direction of picking somebody who could bowl fast."
Lara also called for the pitches for the last two tests in St Kitts and Jamaica to be more suitable for the home team.
"We've got home advantage. I'm not asking for anything that's going to raise your eyebrow," he said. "I'm just asking for a pitch that a fast bowler is going to enjoy."
He put forward an example to show that Caribbean grounds were capable of producing such surfaces.
"We played a series against England here in 2004. Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados had pitches that were favoring fast bowlers," Lara said. "England had (Steve) Harmison, (Simon) Jones, (Andrew) Flintoff and (Matthew) Hoggard, guys who enjoyed the conditions, and we were 3-0 down before we knew it."
Lara said his team was not concerned by the threat posed by India's fast bowling battery of Munaf Patel, Shantha Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan.
"We are not worried about the Patels, the Sreesanths, Pathan and them," he said. ''We are not worried about them.
"I think it is about time for them to start worrying about our fast bowlers."
The four-test series, level at 0-0, continues with the third match in St. Kitts beginning on June 22. The selectors meet to choose the squad for that test on Friday.
India, making its ninth tour to the Caribbean, has won only test series in the region, in 1970-71.
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