West Indies skipper Brian Lara criticised his home club's pitches and practice facilities ahead of this weekend's two one-day internationals against Australia.

"The practice facilities in Trinidad and Tobago are easily among the worst in years," Lara said.

"What we are seeing in first-class cricket out in the middle are pitches that will not breed top-class cricketers."

Construction on a stand at the Queen's Park Cricket Club, home of the Oval ground for the weekend internationals, hinders bowlers' run-up.

Apart from the wicket in Antigua, which hosted the fourth Test, all of the other regional pitches in the Test and one-day series have come in for criticism for being unresponsive to fast bowlers, and not allowing batsmen to play their shots freely.

Lara is hoping for a good pitch at the Oval to help the West Indies prevent Australia from winning the seven-match, limited- overs series. The Aussies lead 3-0. They won the Test series 3-1.

"We have to come up with two wins," he said. "It's not a matter of if I think we can do it, we have to do it. We have to find the right formula to do so."

For today's fourth one-dayer, the West Indies will draft in wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs, while the tourists, who had a light workout yesterday, will welcome back Adam Gilchrist and pacer Brett Lee.

Australia's coach John Buchanan yesterday took a swipe at detractors who claim his players' behaviour becomes ugly when they are put under pressure.

Although he declined to comment directly on the admonishment the Australians received from cricket's two most senior administrators this week, Buchanan said the suggestion Australia couldn't cope with being challenged was wide of the mark.

He cited the recent World Cup in South Africa, during which Australia found themselves battling to survive in several games but on each occasion kept their cool to record memorable wins.

"The Australian side was put under quite a deal of pressure in a number of those games, particularly New Zealand, England and Sri Lanka, and the players responded in every way possible and came away with the win," Buchanan said.

It is the dream of every professional cricketer -- to knock off a century and then put his feet up and watch someone else do the fielding for him.

For Sussex's Kevin Innes, that dream became a reality on Thursday when he was substituted for James Kirtley at Horsham only minutes after celebrating his maiden first-class hundred.

A new ECB regulation stipulates a cricketer released by England can rejoin his county and take the place of a previously nominated player -- even if that player has batted or bowled.

Having been left out of England's final XI at Lord's, Kirtley sped to Horsham where he was able to enjoy the closing moments of Innes's innings before taking the new ball.

The history of the Rangiri Stadium at Dambulla is a chequered one.

But with the staging of its first triangular one-day tournament, Sri Lanka's newest venue now appears finally to be established on the international cricket map.

Built in just seven months, the project was the brainchild of Thilanga Sumathipala, the former president of the Board of Control for Sri Lanka.

He identified the need for an international venue that was not subject to seasonal weather patterns, which make cricket impossible in Colombo for part of the year.

The cost of building the stadium was estimated at Rs 190 million. But the final figure touched nearly Rs 400 million (£2.5m).