The greatest batsman

[Mosiah]

The greatest batsman
published: Monday | April 23, 2007


Stephen Vasciannie
Brian Lara, the king of West Indian cricket, has decided to play his last stroke in first-class cricket. It means that we will no longer have the joy of watching Lara driving through cover, cutting square on the off side, lifting the 'flinger' over mid-on, or beating third man with sheer delicacy and timing. Nor, it must be said, will we see the inconsistency: the enthusiastic, but misguided shot, influenced as much by relatively old age, as by style, the wayward push outside the off stump that was sometimes food for slip fielders, the 35 when we needed 135.
There have been times when I have considered the world to be made up of two types of cricket supporters: those who hate Brian Lara, and those who respect him. Or, to put the matter in another way: those who have wanted Brian Lara dropped from the West Indies team, or at least from the captaincy thereof, and those who firmly opposed any dismissal of the world's greatest batsman.
Anti-Laralistas
The former category - comprised of anti-Laralistas - has been vocal and strong from about a decade. Last Thursday, as West Indies slumped to 8 for 2, against the sharply-biting minnows of Bangladesh, an anti-Laralista held court at a certain bookshop. "Lara must go now! Him can't captain de side! Because of him, even Bangladesh a go beat we!" I decided not to keep my own counsel on this matter of public importance and asked the public speaker why he thought Lara should be dropped as captain.
"Because him is a bad captain!" was the reply. But, I persisted, why is he a bad captain; give me examples of this. "Because of Lara, Wavell Hinds no de pon the side! Lara drop him."
The reasoning stumped me, but it serves to indicate that some of the opposition to Lara has been on unrealistic grounds. Some anti-Laralistas will deny this, but they come to the Lara debate with hostility based on nationalistic grounds. The point is not so much that Lara is Trinidadian and that some anti-Laralistas are insular. Rather, there is the perception that at some time in the past Lara organised to take over the captaincy from Courtney Walsh, our hero, and for that Lara cannot be forgiven.
Other anti-Laralistas build there arguments on notions of arrogance. The point for these critics is that wherever the line between confidence and arrogance happens to be, Lara has crossed it into the land of the selfishly arrogant. To support this argument, some analysts remind us of a team strike some years ago, noting that the captain was responsible for prompting the strike. Never mind that we did not really understand the dynamics of the strike, or even know whether the strike was justifiable: it was the fault of Lara the arrogant.
Another strain of the anti-Laral virus - perhaps the most coherent - has to do with deeply held disappointment. At a time when West Indian cricket fortunes have been variable, at best, we have yearned for a cricket messiah to take us back to the promised land; or more appropriately, for another Atlas, to carry the burdens of a weak team on his left shoulder. When Lara, as captain or as star batsman played the role, elation followed. But on each occasion when he failed, we were obliged to hold him responsible, and in a paroxysm of anger, to call for his dismissal as captain.
King, Not Prince
And then perhaps there are some anti-Laralistas motivated by scepticism, either for the sake of being sceptics or because they dislike pedestals. In his earlier years, especially when Lara scored 375 runs, the sceptics were silent; but as some of us tended to make Lara into a hero, they tried to pick his pedestal to pieces. Lara is vulnerable to McGrath, he can't read that other fellow, he made his century too quickly (!), he was selfish to go back for his world record(!)
In the name of analysis, the sceptics have belittled the 375, the 400, the record-equalling string of consecutive centuries, the first-class 501 innings, the highest aggregate in test cricket. The sceptics would not place Lara among the top five batsmen ever.
Mr. Lara, never mind the sceptics and the anti-Laralistas. Scepticism is the way of the world. But your recognition will come. Now that you have retired, many will gather to offer the superlatives you deserve. You have represented our cricketing aspirations, and you have handled your stewardship with outstanding class and achievement.
Brian Lara is the greatest batsman that cricket has known. Stephen Vasciannie is professor of international law at the University of the West Indies and works part-time as deputy solicitor general in the Attorney-General's chambers.

[Peter R]

Flawed legacy of Lara's mortal genius
Sambit Bal
April 19, 2007
<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->
Brian Lara has been a peerless batsman © Getty Images


Saturday could be the last time we watch Brian Lara in an international match. Anyone who has a feel for cricket will mourn his loss, for no batsman in the last 15 years has brought more joy to spectators. But paradoxically, West Indian cricket is unlikely to miss him.
Lara's legacy will be deeply flawed as he has been the most mortal of geniuses. Any human, however talented, must be granted his indiscretions, and Lara has always been a complex character. His batting, a hostage to his moods, has touched extraordinary highs and inexplicable lows. But that's the essence of Lara and the peaks have been so rewarding that it's been easy to overlook the troughs.
To judge Lara's contribution to West Indian cricket, it is essential to separate his batting from his leadership. Lara the batsman is peerless, light years ahead of his compatriots who have struggled to match the deeds of their predecessors. Lara the leader has been diametrically opposite. Aloof and whimsical are the mild words used to describe him. The stronger ones are selfish, vindictive and unbecoming.
It is hardly a secret that Lara was foisted as captain by Ken Gordon, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board and a fellow Trinidadian, after the infamous row between the board and the players over sponsorship in 2005. A majority of the then selection committee didn't want him and none of the members of the present one want him either. But Gordon, in a move that will be familiar to most cricket fans in the subcontinent, imposed his will on them, and might want do so again. However, his hold on the board has been weakened following the World Cup debacle, and if the selectors have their way, Lara will not make the West Indian touring party for the trip to England in May. Not as captain, not even as player.
While it would be unfair to blame one person, however powerful, for the abjectness of an entire team, those in the know firmly believe that the rot begins right at the top. Lara, they say, has never allowed the team to settle down, and worse, done his best to undermine any player who has crossed his path.
Of course, barring occasional outbursts against the selectors, he has been a model of rectitude and decorum in public, always choosing the right words, and hitting the right notes. In his press conference before the game against Bangladesh at Kensington Oval on Thursday, he repeated his apology to cricket fans and talked about the disappointment of the Caribbean nations. "The need to show character" was a phrase that came up repeatedly.
<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->
Two faced: as a leader Lara has been selfish and vindictive © Getty Images


Yet, Lara, who will retire from one-day internationals after the tournament, stands accused of destroying the character of the team more than anyone else. On the field, he has been eccentric and unpredictable and some of his tactics have bordered on the bizarre. Some of his improvisations, like opening the bowling with Wavell Hinds and Dwayne Smith, have borne fruit, and he has been persuasive in arguing that he has used innovation as a surprise weapon due to the lack of too many real ones at his disposal. "I wouldn't have needed to experiment if I was leading Australia ," he said during last year's Champions Trophy.
But some of the selections defied logic and cricket sense. For much of last year, Ian Bradshaw and Jerome Taylor were the team's best one-day bowlers. Bradshaw was outstanding with the new ball, often bowled his overs through and conceded about 40 runs. Taylor was beginning to master operating at the death, delivering at pace and firing in yorkers. Both have found themselves dropped repeatedly and Bradshaw has been used at first change and sometimes even at the death where he has been easy meat at his pace.
Lara picked the rookie Lendl Simmons as a batsman in the World Cup and put him at No. 8, and in the crucial, near knock-out match against New Zealand , he chose to hand a one-day debut to the 19-year-old Keiron Pollard while dropping Marlon Samuels, in whom he had expressed faith only a few weeks earlier.
Off the field, he has set a poor example to his team-mates when it comes to behaviour and personal work ethic. Genius must receive an allowance, and tales of Garry Sobers turning up at a match after a night of revelry abound in these parts. But Sobers played in a different era and he was captain for only a short part of his career. Lara has led a bunch of impressionable and far less talented individuals much prone to the risk of being led astray.
And he has been severe on the players who he has come to dislike. Ramnaresh Sarwan, a captaincy candidate who has a far better record in both forms of the game than most current players, had the mortification of being dropped on the tour of Pakistan and others have had their batting positions shuffled. Some are believed to be dead against him, while many others live in fear. It is not only a team lacking faith in its own ability, but lacking faith in their leader.
The cricket world will be poorer for Lara's departure, but for West Indian cricket it could be the way forward. It's a tragedy. Lara ought to be remembered as one of the most special batsmen in the history of the game and not a captain whose whims and sullenness destabilised an already feeble team.
Click here to comment on the article.
Sambit Bal is the editor of Cricinfo and Cricinfo Magazine

[Peter R]

I have to agree with Bal. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons there was always controversy while Lara was at the helm.

I think we should thank him tremendously for demonstrating what the term batting genius means. And while he might have given it his all where captaincy and more important, leadership were concerned, his performance paled in comparison to his batting prowess.

Some people are saying here in T&T that with Lara gone no one will attend West Indies cricket. That to me is a telling statement for ultimately his legacy for many was to have made, or tried to make himself, whether by intention or by chance, larger than the game. It means for many (at least here in T&T) that there was really no West Indies team, only a team with one star and a bunch of supporting no-name cast members. And that was not Lara's doing but that of unquestioning loyalists for whom "the man cudden mash ants". What a pity!

Enjoy your retirement and for our collective sakes please give West Indies cricket in any role, a rest for a while.

pr

[Mosiah]

I think we all know where I stand with West Indies cricket. First, I want it disbanded, and I'm serious about that. Second, it never was my favorite sport. I've attended 2 "first class" cricket matches in my life - the first was an exhibition with Imran Khan et al at the National Stadium, the 2nd was a recent WC match between WI and Zimbabwe.

But one thing for certain, I did enjoy the batting of Brian Lara. I'm always amazed about his footwork, esp. when compared to the immobile Gayle! If cricket had 5 more batsmen like him, I think I would actually like the sport.

I certainly will miss him. I know half the story has not been told, but from where I sit, he will be missed.

[Karl]

The greatest batsman?

Maybe! ...although one Vivian Richards and others such as George Headley and Don Bradman may have something to say about it.

..but, what has being a good captain have to do with his rightful place as possibly the greatest of all batsman?

...as far as being the captain of the West Indies goes; he has never been much good. Sure our team performs poorly with our talented players...
...and that in no small measure has a lot to do with the manner of Lara's captaincy.

Lara's marks as batsman? A++++++++++
...as captain? D-------------!

[Karl]

Lara's career as WI captain was mixed, says Gordon
CMC
Tuesday, April 24, 2007


BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) - Brian Lara's career as West Indies captain for an unprecedented three terms has been termed "mixed" by Ken Gordon, president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

"If I had to sum it up, I would say it was mixed," Gordon told CMC CricketPlus in a wide-ranging interview as he reacted to Lara's dramatic retirement announcement last Thursday.

Gordon was very instrumental in having Lara appointed as skipper for a third time on April 26 last year ahead of the home series against Zimbabwe and India. It came two weeks after fellow veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul resigned as captain.

No other person has been appointed West Indies captain on three separate occasions. Lara's other appointments were in 1998 and 2003.
"He came on the scene. He made an impact by pulling the team together in a way that was not existing because if you remember, things had gone pretty badly immediately before that," Gordon asserted.

"He pulled the team together. There was a distinct improvement in the performance of the team. It has had some strong successes in the tri-nation series and so on and we were very pleased about that. And we all thought 'yes, it's going to work'.

"We were all basing that on the talent that we know is there, but the bottom line is that, that talent is not consistent enough, it is not professional enough and therefore it falls down under real pressure.

Thereafter, we know we slipped because things have not gone well in the World Cup. Mark you, if you look at it clinically, we have been beaten by better teams. The teams that have beaten us - Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa - are teams that are more strongly prepared, more professionally prepared and are better teams," Gordon said.

"My greatest disappointment was not being beaten by those teams, but how we were beaten because we didn't fight. You didn't get a sense of a genuine, serious commitment fighting it out there.
"And I think in a way that is what has affected most people in the Caribbean. Not that fact that we lost but how we lost."

Left-hander Lara, who celebrates his 38th birthday on May 2, boasts the highest Test runs aggregate (11,953) at an average of 52.88 in 131 matches. He hit 34 centuries, including a world record 400 not out.
The Trinidadian played 299 ODIs, rattling up 10,405 runs (ave: 40.48) with 19 centuries. He also holds the word record for the highest first-class score (501 not out).

Asked how he would like to remember Lara, Gordon remarked: "In terms of how I would like to think of him, I suppose I would always think of him as man who carried the batting of the West Indies for almost two decades, who has been a supreme performer as a batsman, who does not have as his strongest strength captaining of a team because there was too much baggage.

"Too many things were occurring. Whether that came from some of his own styles or not, the fact is when you are dealing with a genius like that, it is never easy. You go down the line of all the people who have been successes as batsmen from the days of Frank Worrell coming right down.
"These men have all had conflicts with the administration because they are driven by their convictions, by their egos, by the things that make them what they are. So it is not easy dealing with them, but we love them for what they have done and we have to recognise that there is a difference here.

"So that there has been a disappointment in his performance as captain, yes, but that must never overshadow his true worth to what he has done for West Indies cricket," the WICB president said.

[Sir X]

Re: The greatest batsman

To me Lara reinforces the most negative about us west indians , brilliant individually but insecure in a group especially among Jamaicans.

If it is as the writer says anyone who crossed his path would have to play in fear or be dropped if they spoke up , then that says it all , he was an ass not deserving of the captains band.

Lets be honest a man making history and a man capable of building a team whom will society choose ? The Trinis have spoken of thier insecurity , if Lara is not playing then they wont watch cricket...lol betta muss come !

My other point is talent takes time to nurture , genius is a bar over talent , Lara was a genius with the bat.But those whom needed nuturing {Jerome Taylor } he set out to destroy.

Is it insecurity or should I say west indian insecurity that destroyed our cricket ?.Make no mistake about it the West Indian cricket board played a decisive role in elevating Lara and destroying our Cricket.

Decisive!

[Karl]

Re: The greatest batsman

A special Lara moment

Thursday, April 26, 2007


I remember the first time I heard about Brian Lara. It was the mid-80s. Then Jamaica Under-19 manager Len Chambers had just returned from the age-group tournament in the eastern Caribbean.

And as I am always inclined to do, I asked if he had seen anyone "special".

Said Chambers: "You have a little boy from Trinidad name Lara, look out fi him".

In 1987 it was Jamaica's turn to host the Under-19 tournament. Very quickly the news got around that the little left-hander from Trinidad & Tobago was special.

Most of those games were played at the leading grounds in Kingston: Sabina Park, Lucas, Kensington Park, Police Ground and Melbourne Oval.

It was a tournament that included considerable talent. Lara apart, T&T had the wrist-spinner Rajindra Dhanraj. Jamaica had James Adams, Nehemiah Perry and a youthful Robert Samuels; the Leeward Islands had Ridley Jacobs and Stuart Williams; Barbados had Roland Holder and Sherwin Campbell, and the Windward Islands, Junior Murray.

But the one all of us were talking about was Lara - with his extravagant back lift, intrepid foot work and a tendency to hold the otherwise brittle T&T batting together. Lara made the runs and Dhanraj got the wickets as T&T came out champions.

One of the more remarkable things I remember about that tournament was that even spectators at a game involving Jamaica would take a taxi, hitch a ride or jump on their bicycles to go see Lara bat at some other ground - once word came that he was at the crease.
Those who watch cricket knew they were seeing someone out of the ordinary.
Even then Lara treated spinners with disdain, though Perry showed that he could be troubled by off-spin.

Today, with the barrel so bare, Lara would have made his Test match debut long before his 22nd birthday. Back then, the West Indies selectors felt no necessity to push him. But there were many of us who felt they held him back too long.
As it turned out, Lara's maiden three-figure score, that epic 277 on a turning Sydney pitch in his fifth Test against an attack that included the equally youthful Shane Warne in January 1993 marked him internationally.

It was immediately recognised that here was one of the best players of right-arm wrist spin around. Within a few years he would be recognised as among the very best ever against that style of spin bowling; and the best in his time against any form of spin.

That knock in 1993 turned the series around. The Australians were leading 1-0 and fully expected to win the Sydney Test after scoring over 500 runs in their first innings.
Lara's wonder innings ensured the game ended in a draw and a resurgent West Indies won the next two Tests, including a heart-stopping one-run triumph in the fourth.

All of us will probably have our special Lara moment. For me, it came in the post-lunch session on the second day of the second Test against Australia at Sabina Park in 1999. West Indies had lost badly in the first Test in Port of Spain and following their disastrous 5-0 drubbing on tour of South Africa, Lara was put on probation as captain.

West Indies, replying to a modest 256 by Australia, lost four early wickets before Lara (213) and Adams (94) manufactured what turned out to be a match-winning stand of 244. It is surely one of the great partnerships of Test match history.
They batted all through that second day, with the only Windies casualty being nightwatchman Pedro Collins, who was forced to retire hurt early that morning.
Of course, Lara would follow up with that brilliant unbeaten 153 in Barbados that gave the West Indies a thrilling one-wicket win and a brief 2-1 lead in the series. The series was eventually drawn 2-2. Australia won the final Test in Antigua despite another Lara century.

To get back to my special Lara moment: Lara and Adams appeared to be gradually working themselves into a position where they could dictate terms, when the former was felled by a bouncer from Glenn McGrath.

It took a while for Lara to recover his composure and in the meantime speculation buzzed as to what McGrath, with his immaculate control and ferociously competitive nature, would deliver as his follow-up delivery. Would he bounce again, go for the yorker? Perhaps he would bowl the length ball angled across the left-handed Lara towards slip.

McGrath went for the length ball, angled across. Quick as a flash, Lara was back and across, covering his off stump. The bat came down in a flashing arc from that towering back lift and there was the satisfying "thunk" as the middle of the bat met ball. Sabina was jumping and roaring as the ball streaked to the cover boundary.

Most ordinary mortals would have been tentative, or perhaps flash wildly without the requisite movement of the feet. The edged catch to slip or 'keeper being the logical result of an uncontrolled shot, which is what the canny McGrath was hoping for.

Not Lara. No batsman ever had a greater sense of occasion. Lord, how we will miss him!

[Gamma]

Re: The greatest batsman

genius batsman.....poor captain....e.g. how can a captain with the resources he had even contemplate.....calling a power play in over 44 against a well set south african side? if he forgot about it, is it more forgivable than if it was deliberate? i don't think so...that is not captsincy behaviour.

truth be told lara couldn't handle the captaincy. i think he is capable...he has a good knowledge of cricket...but captains need more than that...they must have the respect of their charges and should be able to motivate them to bring out the best in them. to a man, except bermuda and canada (ok...maybe india and pakistan too......well inzi did try to lead from the front) all the other captains exhibited this in the world cup