GCB Head among those surprised at Lara's sudden retirement
By Sean Devers
Kaieteur News
April 22, 2007
Brian Lara's decision to retire from International cricket after yesterday's final Super Eight game between West Indies and England in Barbados has surprised most Guyanese.
The left-handed Trinidadian, holder of the record for most Test runs and highest score in Test and First-Class cricket, announced his retirement after his side beat Bangladesh in Barbados on Thursday and President of the Guyana Cricket Board Chetram Singh said on Friday afternoon that he was taken aback by Lara's decision.
“I was taken aback because we were told that although Lara would quit One-Day cricket after the World Cup, he intended to continue at the Test level and was available for the England tour, Singh, who is also a Director on the West Indies Cricket Board explained.”My personal view is that if Lara was selected on the team he should captain the side since it appeared that in the past having him play under another captain caused some problems.
“So maybe this could provide us with a great opportunity to start the rebuilding process under a new captain who would not be influenced negatively or positively from a Lara in the team. He will be missed for his majestic batting and I feel he is still capable of scoring plenty of runs at the test level if he so desires,” Singh, the Guyana Board President since 1992, said.
Former Guyana First-Class batsman and CMC Radio comments personality Mark Harper said he was very surprised since only recently Lara, who has scored 34 test tons and 19 at the ODI level, had suggested that he might continue his Test career for at least another couple of years.
“We will miss his batting genius at a time when we are struggling to produce top class batsmen in the region but there comes a time when teams have to look to the future and I feel (Ramnaresh) Sarwan is the best person at this time to be given the job (of captaincy).
I feel Sarwan should be appointed both Test and One-Day skipper and his biggest challenge could be to get the guys to rebuild their confidence, play as a real team and inspire the batsmen to build good scores,” Harper, the brother of former West Indies off-spinner Roger Harper opined.
Guyana 's Under-19 captain and First-Class player Steven Jacobs was also surprised at Lara's decision and feels the batting maestro should have stayed on a bit longer to help mold the young batsmen whom he feels are too reckless at times.
“I don't think it (Lara's retirement) came at the right time. He is still needed to help the young batsmen. I feel he should have given up the captaincy and played under Sarwan as the new captain and help him to develop as a leader.
“He has given great service to West Indies cricket and his batting will be missed. On behalf of the young cricketers I would like to thank him for all of his wonderful innings which have influenced us to dream of becoming future great West Indian batsmen,” Jacobs said.
The 18-year-old who led Guyana to the regional Under-19 title last year and is again eligible to play at this level this year, thinks the biggest challenge for the new skipper will be to be a good leader on and off the field and act in a mature and responsible manner for the development of West Indies cricket.
And the fans were also surprised by Lara's sudden retirement. Alcina Tilakchand, who works at the Guyana Cricket Board Secretariat and hardly misses Regional or International cricket in Guyana, said that although she was surprised that Lara changed his mind about going to England, she thinks his decision could be good for West Indies cricket.
“I will miss his batting….he was so brilliant to watch. Lara is a great batsman but to me he has not been a true team man or leader and sometimes I got the impression that he is more interested in personal achievements than trying to get his team to win matches. I was so disappointed with the manner they lost to Sri Lanka in Guyana and the captain has got to take some of the blame for our poor showings recently” the die-hard fan said.
She, like most others in Guyana feel the time is right to appoint Sarwan as the next captain since he is an automatic selection for both the Test and One-Day side. Lara made his ODI debut in November 1990 and his Test debut the next month in Pakistan and ends his career as one of the most celebrated batsmen of all time.
His leadership in his three stints as captain of the regional team has however come under heavy fire as the West Indies struggled at the International level since losing their first series in 15 years in 1995 against Australia.