"We're like New Zealand, we are not a great team " - Sarwan

LONDON, United Kingdom - West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan spoke with the media at Lord's on Wednesday afternoon in a customary media conference before the first Test match against England. Following are excerpts from his responses to various issues raised by journalists. 
 
On whether the West Indies has any injury concerns:

Everyone is fit, unfortunately we had a bit of an injury problem coming into the Test but Stephen Partridge (the team physiotherapist) said that everyone will be ready to go so it's really good that we will have a full squad to choose from. 
 
On the limited time for center wicket practice:

We know exactly what was going to happen when we got here. We had a three day game and unfortunately we were only able to play one day when Shiv (Chanderpaul) and Runako (Morton) scored some runs. We probably have a bit of concerned but nevertheless we've been urging each other to stay mentally strong. We know what it's like here in England, how quickly the weather can change. It's important for everyone to be mentally strong going into this Test match and stay focused on what we have to do. 
 
On how the conditions may assist the bowlers:

With the weather that we've had here for the past week I would think that the ball would do a bit here, even when it's late in the summer the ball tend to do some things. I would expect the seam bowlers to get some sort of movement throughout the series. 
 
On having lost Brian Lara from the middle order:

Obviously we're going to miss Brian but it gives the younger players a chance to put their hands up. We have myself, Chris (Gayle) and Shiv as well and we will have a great responsibility and this is the new era that is going to help take West Indies cricket forward, it's a great opportunities. 
 
On how both teams will respond after not playing well recently:

We both have had bad World Cup (campaigns) and obviously we haven't been playing Test cricket that well. England didn't do that well in Australia (in the Test series) so I think both teams will be a bit low on confidence but it's important that we get a good start to this Test match. 
 
On the bowling attack:

We've got Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards and there is Ravi Rampaul as well. We have a good combination of experience and youth, I think Corey plays a major part in our attack. He gets the ball to go both ways and he bowls in good areas. A lot of responsibility will be placed on him and I think the younger bowlers will have to follow in terms of taking a pattern from him.  He is our best bowler in the Caribbean. 
 
On whether the Windies has such as Steve Harmison's:

Fidel Edwards, the last time he toured here he bowled very fast, he got it up to 96mph in Manchester. I've already spoken to him and told him that his job is to be aggressive and bowl as fast as he can. 
 
On what has caused players not to be able to come through as well as is necessary from junior cricket to international cricket:

There are a lot of things which contribute to that. Probably the first class cricket back home and we have quite a few young players in the team and we keep putting young players to participate and I think when you play international cricket one of the key things that I have observed over the eight years that I have been playing is that you need to be mentally strong and I don't think that at 18 or 19 we don't have the sort of players who are that strong mentally because we are playing five first class a year. I think that is something that we need to work on back home – our first class cricket. I think that would help develop our cricket. 
 
On Runako Morton:

He's a very patient guy in terms of where he plays, he's a very confident guy as well. He is someone who looks forward to challenges. I can tell you that he always supports everyone in the team and I'm looking forward to his support. He is going to be very vocal and I can guarantee that you will hear him. 
 
On how the Windies will approach the game:

What is most important is for us to play to our limitations. We're like New Zealand, we are not a great team and we do not have any big super stars in our team. It's a matter of us playing basic cricket and getting things right. It is important that we all see ourselves on a level playing field. They key to the series is if we can execute our plans and that is something we will be looking at very hard and I think if you look at New Zealand, that is a team which does that very well. That is what we will try to achieve throughout this tournament. I would be very pleased to see us get some consistency going. That is very important for us. I think that is what we've been lacking in the past, if we can get some consistency going with the bat, the ball and the way we field that would be very important. If we can achieve that I would be a happy man.