“It could become a downward spiral”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Iconic West Indies batsman Brian Lara has admitted that Australia have lost their “fear factor” following their dreary performance in the ongoing Test series against South Africa.

Australia have already lost the series heading into the third and final Test in Adelaide as they were beaten by 177 runs in Perth and crushed by an innings and 80 runs in Hobart.

The Baggy Greens have now lost five Tests in a row as they were whitewashed 3-0 by Sri Lanka earlier this year.

With that in mind, Lara is concerned that Australia are travelling down the same path the West Indies have.

“The fear factor is no longer there and a similar thing happened to the West Indies 25 years ago,” Lara told News Corp Australia. “When Australia beat us at home in 1995, no one feared us any more and that’s going to be the situation with Australia.”

Should Australia fail to turn their fortunes around in Adelaide, Lara conceded that it could mark the beginning of a “downward spiral” for the Baggy Greens.

“The morale of the team was pretty low when we started to lose,” Lara said when reminiscing about the hardships the West Indies endured at certain points in his career. “Everything must stay as harmonious as possible.

“You can dig a bigger hole for yourself if you are not unified and you start worrying about other things that may not even be happening. It could become a downward spiral.”