Chanderpaul wary of threat from surprise packages

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Mar 17 (Reuters) West Indies opening batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul said the unfancied teams at the World Cup were proving to be a threat but the problem was finding time to watch them play.

The World Cup hosts beat Pakistan in their opening game to give them pole position in Group D but now must face Zimbabwe on Monday before their final game against surprise package Ireland.

''Having these teams here, they are all trying to make a name for themselves and we can't afford to under-rate them,'' Chanderpaul told reporters after practice today.

''The thing is that you only get to see bits and pieces of them playing because sometimes you are practising, sometimes you are out, but mostly we are practising,'' he said.

''But you have to try and watch them, even though there isn't much chance to do so,'' he said, adding that his team had taken the opportunity to study Ireland batsman Jeremy Bray who scored an unbeaten century in the tied game with Zimbabwe.

BIG SCORE Chanderpaul has yet to make a big score in his team's two warm-up games and the opening World Cup match but said that he was back to full fitness following some niggling injuries and was sure he would hit his best form soon.

''There is nothing to worry about (with my fitness) and the form is still there, it's just I have not been getting a big total. I just need a big score,'' said the 32-year-old left-hander.

The Guyana batsman said the new wickets at Sabina Park in Kingston, where West Indies were playing all their group games, required a lot of patience and application given their lack of pace.

''At Sabina, you need to work hard, you need to get in and then stay in. It is not like the wickets in the past, you need to work because it is a bit slower,'' he said.

The hosts suffered a sharp wake-up call prior to the start of the competition when they were skittled out for 85 by India in a warm-up game in Trelawny but Chanderpaul said the win over Pakistan had given them confidence and morale a real boost.

''That helped us to get confidence and there is a very good mood in the team,'' he said.

The seven-week World Cup culminates in the final in Barbados on April 28.

REUTERS PDS PM0046