Brian Lara's West Indies team enters Thursday's limited-overs international against Pakistan refreshed from some much-needed rest after playing virtually nonstop international cricket for the past three months.
``It's good that the guys spent most of the time in their rooms, but we've been on the road for pretty good time and now we have to focus on the four remaining games,'' Lara said of his team's five-day break Wednesday on the eve of the second day-night one-dayer against Pakistan.
The West Indies lost the Test series 2-0 before the opening match of the five-game limited-overs series was washed out at Rawalpindi Tuesday.
Prior to travelling to Pakistan, the West Indies played a triangular series at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September before competing in the ICC Champions Trophy in India.
Despite losing the Test series, the West Indies has performed well in the shorter version of the game, reaching the finals in Malaysia and at the Champions Trophy, losing to world champion Australia on both occasions.
``We are well positioned in the one-day game,'' Lara said. ``We've performed really well not just in the Champions Trophy, we've been playing good cricket in 2006.''
The only concern for Lara is the loss of two key players _ batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan and allrounder Dwayne Bravo _ for the one-day series.
Sarwan suffered a hairline fracture on his right foot when he was struck by paceman Umar Gul's yorker in the third Test, while Bravo has also flown back to the West Indies for personal reasons.
``Our only worry at this present time is that we are pretty close to the World Cup and the likes of Sarwan and Bravo are not here with us,'' Lara said. ``These are the players whom we actually depend a lot in the one-day arena.
``But it's an opportunity for younger players to stake their claims.''
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq will return to lead the side after serving a four-match ban for bringing the game into disrepute during The Oval test fiasco against England in August.
Inzamam, who missed Pakistan's three Champions Trophy matches and sat out in the first one-dayer at Rawalpindi, was also happy to be leading a well rested team.
``The fast bowlers got the much needed rest and also Mohammad Yousuf after scoring heavily in the series,'' Inzamam said.
Yousuf broke Viv Richards' (1,710 runs) 30-year-old world record of most runs in a calendar year when he scored 665 runs in the Test series against the West Indies for an aggregate of 1,788 runs from 11 Test matches in 2006 that included nine centuries.
The Pakistan captain said the West Indies had shown good performances in limited-overs cricket arena this year with some good quality one-day players.
``The West Indies is a very good one-day side and we know that Lara, (Chris) Gayle and (Corey) Collymore are their dangerous players,'' he said.
