'I want West Indies to have best of me' - Brian Lara
By Tony Cozier in Port Elizabeth
Stabroek News
February 12, 2003
THE youthful dynamism that has suddenly transformed the West Indies team has given Brian Lara a new lease on life.
The champion left-hander has left no one in any doubt as to the motivation for his crucial 116 that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award in the West Indies' stunning victory by three runs over South Africa in Sunday's opening match of the 2003 World Cup.
His skilfully measured innings revealed the sense of occasion that mark the finest sportsmen. It was his first at international level since his 111 against Kenya in the ICC Champions Trophy September 15.
Even as he batted then, he was coming down with the debilitating illness that put him in hospital and required lengthy rest.
"I knew I'd been away for four to five months and the guys had played really good cricket in the one-day series in India and in Bangladesh in that time," Lara said.
"I was coming back into a team that was full of confidence and I told myself coming into this tournament that I had to push and shove myself to the front of this team because there's a lot of talent there, a lot of good young players," he added.
"I just wanted to go out there and play with them and show that the West Indies have the best possible chance to win this tournament."
Whether he was regarded as No.1 batsman in the world or not is immaterial as far as Lara is concerned.
"That's of little significance in the whole sphere of things," he said. "I just want to ensure that the West Indies have the best of me."
"I want to go out there, play cricket and perform," he added. "I want to play with a team that wants to win and this young team wants to win. That's great."
He even ventured a long term hope, a certain sign that his enthusiasm has returned after two difficult years in which injuries and illness have three times put him out of the game and caused him to miss tours of Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2001, Sharjah (against Pakistan) and India and Bangladesh last year.
"What I would love to get is a Test hundred (against South Africa) at the end of the year," he said - adding, with a smile, "if Carl (Hooper) sits down and picks me to go on tour."
The West Indies return to South Africa for a series of three Tests and five one-day internationals next November and December.
"That's what I'm looking forward to," he noted.
Lara is yet to score a hundred in 11 Tests against South Africa - his highest score is 91 in Antigua in 2001 - and he has painful memories of the 1998-99 tour here when the West Indies were whitewashed 5-0 under his captaincy.
Sunday's hundred was his second in the World Cup against South Africa to follow his 111 at Karachi in 1999 quarter-final that was also a match winner.
He rated Sunday's the best of his 16 in the shorter game, given the situation at the start of the innings when the West Indies were struggling at 67 for two after 25 overs and given that "this in the world stage."
He escaped a flying, left-handed chance to Jacques Kallis off Makhaya Ntinti first ball but reckoned it was no more than he deserved.
"The amount of work I put in during the last couple of months since I was cleared as medically fit, a first ball 0 would have done no justification to that," he commented. "I really worked hard to be ready for this."
It is labour that had its reward on Sunday. Given his upbeat mood, more are likely to follow.
