Brian Lara's second coming
By Colin E. Croft
Stabroek News
April 27, 2003
Most people seldom have a second chance at any situation. Most situations in life are like the Space Shuttle, which, for all of its technology, is just an over- rated glider and just has one chance at landing after days, sometimes weeks, even months, in outer space.
Unlike US President George Bush (Jr.), who, by design, has recently taken the chance to redeem the mistake of his father, George Bush (Sr.) in the 1990/1 Iraq war, as regards Sadaam, Brian Lara has, more by chance than by design, been given another opportunity to redeem himself as the ultimate leader, not as a batsman, and in the time, West Indian cricket. Like his batting, Lara is a bit unique in life, so no problem there.
Many think of the first time he was appointed captain, including for those most dismal tours to South Africa, in 1998, where the West Indies won only one one-day game in the five-Test series and seven one-day internationals, and to New Zealand in 1999/2000, where the West Indies did not win a single international game in the two-test series and five one-day internationals. He did play brilliantly when the Aussies were last here in 1999, getting three centuries in a row, while he was still captain, and after his first captaincy, he also played brilliantly in Sri Lanka in 2001 to score 688 runs in three Tests, he West Indies, this time under Carl Hooper, losing all of them.
However, my most negative memories of Brian Lara occurred much earlier, in a time when he was much more immature than even when he was given the captaincy, to a time when it seemed that Brian Lara's only theme was Brian Lara, regardless of what he, his minders and supporters suggested back then. That time was the West Indies tour of the UK 1995.
If you remember, Lara left the team, unofficially and unauthorized, at least twice, maybe three times, during that tour. The pressure was on him and he simply balked at the attention, despite his personal success. He was like a cricketing Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, only happy in his genius work, but not in the collective attentions that that work would bring.
In the continuing fracas of UK 1995, he actually scored three centuries in a row, though, to me, his 1st innings 87 at Old Trafford in a losing effort, before making a century in the 2nd innings, was his best innings of the 2-2 series. No problem with all of that, per se', even though I would be the first to acknowledge that the player's actions were not inspiring, especially some of the antics and truculence off the field.
What really angered me most then, and still does these days when I think about it, though, was the downright lies given to the West Indies public about that tour, by the then Manager's Report, and the political rhetoric of the West Indies Cricket Board and its then President. That report said nothing about the fact that, for instance, at least three senior players actually told the then captain, Ritchie Richardson, that his captaincy was at an end, and the "he could expect no co-operation from the players", among other incidents, such as another player, who has since captained the West Indies, telling the team that he would not be 12th man, and turning up in jeans and T-shirt at the start of the final Test, not to mention that another player was actually sent home. There were so many disruptive situations on that tour that cricket actually took a very distant back seat.
The 1995 West Indies Cricket Team tour of the United Kingdom has been the most tumultuous that I have covered since starting my sojourn into pseudo-sports journalism in 1993. In fact, the West Indies cricket team imploded in 1995 tour of the UK. Many still think that most of this could have been put at the foot of Lara.
Now, while there has been some surprise and concern at Lara's reappointment to the captaincy, I would simply state that the West Indies selectors, whose imagination failed
badly last week when they selected the team for the 2nd Test, a team that had as its three fast bowlers Merve Dillon, Vasbert Drakes and Pedro Collins and not, as maybe the selectors dreamed or thought, Malcolm Marshall, Mike Holding and Joel Garner, had no choice but to appoint Lara to the captaincy. By the way, even Holding, Garner and Marshall would have probably needed another bowler, slow or fast.
Already, as you know, Lara is playing immaculately, already getting two centuries in the series, but will his captaincy be that good? I think that it would mature, given the players that he gets. How he does overall will depend mostly on how his individual players conduct themselves as the games carry on, their individual desire to exceed and not simply to "compete". On the evidence of the 2nd Test, and even the 1st Test, the West Indies Cricket Team must win the battle in their heads first, before going onto the field.
That the West Indies cricket fraternity had to reappoint Lara as captain shows a bit of the lack of planning that has dogged our cricket over the years. Except for Darren Ganga, Shiv Chanderpaul and Ridley Jacobs, all now seemingly incapable of being captain at this time, and of course Lara, of those selected for the 1st or 2nd Test of this current series, no-one else had even occasionally captained his regional team, much less be a candidate for the captaincy of the West Indies.
I wonder how many remembered Ramnaresh Sarwan suggesting, even before the tour started, that "I have not even captained Guyana yet, much less the West Indies." This is the West Indies Cricket Team's vice captain, mind you. Has Marlon Samuels yet captained Jamaica? Graeme Smith, another about their age, is now captain of South Africa. Is there not something wrong with this picture?
Planning, planning and more planning!!
Lara does seem to keep his best batsmanship for Australia and Sri Lanka, at home or abroad, but now he needs much more than just his batting, as was seen in the 2nd Test last week. Whet he needs immediately is the calming influence his now seeming maturity must bring. Look at the way Sarwan was out in the 2nd innings when the West Indies just hinted at victory at the Queens Park Oval.
Captains are supposed to bring out the best in their players, especially when they are at the crease together. That is why both Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards are so revered, outside of their own cricket. Or is it that that old adage still (over the last seven years or so) runs in West Indies cricket û "You could take the horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink?" Still too many fundamental mistakes are being made by this team. Or it is what Ian Botham suggested to me in 2000, when the West Indies last toured the UK in a losing effort; "Crofty, you guys expect too much from these players. Perhaps they are not as good as you West Indians think they are." We shall see, I am sure.
Few would also remember that I was probably the only person who actually said that the West Indies would not get to the 2nd round of the last World Cup in South Africa. I knew that something about our cricket, preparation, commitment etc., despite the cheer-leading rhetoric of all concerned, was not right to proceed in that competition. However, if Lara could continue in his present demeanor, something we must see to believe, I think that the West Indies could win, not merely "compete", which has somehow become the watch-word of West Indies cricket, the 2007 World Cup. That would be history made, since it would be the first time that a host nation would win the competition.
Overall, the recent Brian Lara is the one that probably should have been waited for, to give the captaincy to, and not the one that was given the captaincy back then. What is positive is the plethora of young, emerging talent that is becoming available. If Lara could nurture this talent, without being to selfish, then he could become the Clive Lloyd of the new millennium, remembered for fostering champions.
