Lara says his team are well prepared ahead of the Champions Trophy

They are the defending champions but because they had slipped to below the top six ranked teams in one-day cricket they must qualify first.

Lara said: "It's a bit unfortunate but we found ourselves in that predicament.

"We've got to try sort this first part of the tournament out (and) get some positives out of it."

Four teams - West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe - will play a round robin starting on 7 October with the top two advancing to the competition proper.

Lara was confident West Indies would get to defend their title in the main competition.

"If we can't get past the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to get into the second stage of the tournament we're really suffering and I expect us to get to the finals and get to defend our trophy.

"I know that they have the ability and I am sure they are looking forward to expressing themselves as time goes by," he continued.

Lara said he had been pleased with his team's preparation so far as they beat India 4-1 at home and then made it to the final of the DLF Cup in Malaysia, although they lost to Australia.

"We played very good cricket in all departments of the game," he added.

"We have not played international or competitive cricket for some time and the guys were coming off holidays and getting into the DLF Cup which was an impromptu tournament.

"We weren't really match fit but after getting to the final credit must be given to the team."