Lara’s illness cloaked in mystery
- double world record holder out of India tour
By Tony Cozier In COLOMBO
Stabroek News
September 20, 2002
“Brian has been advised by medical specialists in Colombo that he will miss the West Indies immediate cricketing commitments. That will rule him out of the Indian tour and I have advised the West Indies selectors that a replacement will be needed for that tour. Out of respect for Brian’s privacy, the West Indies team manager will make no further public comment on this matter.” - BCCSL statement
BRIAN LARA’S withdrawal from the imminent West Indies’ tour of India, feared since he was hospitalised here Tuesday with what doctors identified as “suspected hepatitis”, was confirmed here yesterday.
But the issue remained cloaked in mystery when teammanager Ricky Skerritt declined to reveal whether or nottwo days of tests had established the source of the illness that struck down the star left-hander after his match- winning 111 against Kenya in the ICC Champions Trophy match.
Neither in a terse statement issued on his behalf by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) yesterday afternoon nor in answer to later questions did Skerritt say how long Lara would remain in hospital or when he would return home.
“Brian will leave for home at the earliest convenience,” was all he would volunteer as an addendum to the statement.
Asked if he knew what the illness was, he replied: “If I could say that, I would have put it in the statement.”
The statement read: “Brian has been advised by medical specialists in Colombo that he will miss the West Indies immediate cricketing commitments. That will rule him out of the Indian tour and I have advised the West Indies selectors that a replacement will be needed for that tour.”
It ended: “Out of respect for Brian’s privacy, the West Indies team manager will make no further public comment on this matter.”
The West Indies team arrives in India after a preparatory camp in Colombo October 1 for a tour that includes three Tests and seven one-day internationals.
The secrecy is undoubtedly the result of Lara’s resentment over the initial media statement, released by the Inter-national Cricket Council (ICC), in which Skerritt reported doctors “suspected hepatitis”. Skerritt said then that Lara’s symptoms included discoloured eyes, weakness and dehydration.
The Associated Press on Wednesday quoted unnamed “hospital sources” confirming the illness as hepatitis, an infection of the liver, and stating it would require the star left-handed batsman to remain in hospital for two weeks and then rest for four.
That would indicate the least serious of the four strains of the illness, hepatitis A, commonly known as jaundice.
Skerritt did say that he, captain Carl Hooper and several members of the team, along with chief selector Sir Vivian Richards and former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, now an ICC match referee, had visited Lara at the Apollo Hospital, a large, ultra-modern facility opened earlier this year.
Richards is accompanying the team here and on its Indian tour and would consult the other members of the selection panel - Hooper and coach Roger Harper here and Gordon Greenidge and Joey Carew back in the Caribbean - to select a replacement for a batsman who is irreplacable.
The most likely option is either of the two right-handed openers, Daren Ganga or Leon Garrick, to add to the left-handers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds in the squad of 16.
It is the fourth time in the last two-and-a-half years that the unfortunate Lara, holder of the record scores in both Test and first-class cricket and one of the biggest attractions in the game, has missed a series.
He took a self-imposed break against Zimbabwe and Pakistan in 2000 after resigning the captaincy.
A persistent hamstring strain forced him to miss the tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya just over a year ago but he returned for the series in Sri Lanka later in the year to score 688 runs at an average of 114 in three Tests.
He then dislocated and fractured his left elbow so severely in a freak accident in a one-day international that he took four months to recuperate, causing him to miss the series of two Tests and three one-day internationals against Pakistan in Sharjah last February.
The team already brings in five new players for the tour of India. Fast bowlers Cameron Cuffy, Jermaine Lawson and Darren Powell, batsman Marlon Samuels and all-rounder Gareth Breeze are scheduled in Sri Lanka September 25 for the planned camp.
Fast bowlers Vasbert Drakes and Corey Collymore, who were chosen only for the Champions Trophy, head back to the Caribbean next week. Batsman Runako Morton has already returned following the death of his grandmother in Nevis.
The West Indies will be eliminated from the Champ-ions Trophy if, as expected, South Africa beat Kenya in the final match in pool three today. After that, they will spend a week concentrating on physical work before going into a concentrated net practice and a three-day match against a Sri Lanka `A’ team.