Lara's farewell ruined by England
The Tony Cozier column
Stabroek News
April 22, 2007
THE largest crowd of what has been a long and tedious World Cup packed into the re-made Kensington Oval yesterday for what appeared to be a largely meaningless match between two modest teams already certain of their elimination.
For all the historical background, the attraction for the thousands who scrambled for last minute tickets on Friday and who filled every available seat yesterday was not so much a contest between the West Indies and their oldest foes, England, but the desire to bid a fitting, emotional farewell to Brian Lara.
The memories of the past dozen years, not least on this piece of hallowed turf, left by the latest in the long line of great West Indies batsmen are rich, plentiful and indelible.
The occasion was made even more poignant as it was not confined to West Indians and the many English who have, as always, invaded their favourite Caribbean island for the game for which it is best known.
Many of those streaming through the gates from early morning also wore the colours and carried the flags of most of the other participating nations in cricket's global showpiece.
Around the impressive new stands, several placards paid tribute to the departing West Indies captain who announced on Thursday that this would be his last match of a career in which he has repeatedly rewritten the game's record books.
Sadly, Lara's final innings, batting at the No.3 position from where he had set out on several of his finest performances, was cut short through the anti-climax of a run out.
There was also the disappointment of defeat for the captain but the kind of pulsating finish that the tournament had yearned for was some compensation for the 23,000 or so present.
At the end, there were tears of sadness in several eyes as Lara spoke at his final presentation ceremony to Mike Atherton, a rival England captain from the days when they were in the Under-19 World Cup, and embarked in a lap around the ground to acknowledge the reception that clearly touched him.
At such a time, in any sport, the inescapable cliché is that it is the end of an era. In this case, the expression is entirely appropriate. This has, indeed, by Lara's Era.
Since he first took over the mantle as the team's standard bearer in 1992, on the retirement of Viv Richards in 1992, he has utterly dominated all aspects of West Indies cricket. He has been, in many respects, for better or for worse, West Indies cricket.
He has seen six board presidents, five managers, four chief executives and seven coaches come and go.
Only George Headley, "Atlas" of the formative years of the 1930s, had to carry such a heavy run-scoring load.
Worrell, Weekes and Walcott, the formidable Ws, had each other. Sobers had Kanhai, Hunte and Nurse.
Richards was surrounded by Greenidge, Haynes, Lloyd and Richardson.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the solid, awkward left-hander, has proved the only consistent support Lara could rely on in a team so prone to collapse that double figure totals and humiliating defeats have proliferated over the last decade.
No one has served three times as captain, each stint a tough trial compounded by the many shortcomings of an inept and divided administration and his own impatience and indiscretions.
Until yesterday, for which the special circumstances were undoubtedly the catalyst, the losses were regular and heavy in the first World Cup staged in the Caribbean. Instead of lifting the gloom that has enveloped West Indies cricket for so long, it ended in disappointment and, one way or another, led to Lara's departure.
But the Kensington multitude yesterday did not come to dwell on such issues. They were there to acclaim the Prince of batsmen and thank him for the special memories.
"Thanks Prince, thanks for the magic," was one sign that reflected the unanimous verdict.
His statistics, of course, are incredible. He leaves with most of the game's batting records - the highest first-class score, the highest Test score, the most Test runs, the most three-figure innings by a West Indian, the most runs off an over in Tests.
What they do not reveal is "the magic". He was the ultimate entertainer, a genius with a bat he used like a rapier to reduce even the best bowlers to mediocrity.
His unbeaten 401 and 375 ten years apart at the Antigua Recreation Ground are the figures that will stand forever as the highest scores at the highest level of the game. How anyone can maintain concentration and fitness long enough to achieve such feats defies comprehension.
But there were many, many others among his 34 three-figure innings for the West Indies that spoke of the genius his maker bestowed on him. Not one - and I have been fortunate to be there for most - was ever ordinary, never dull.
There was, in everything Brian Lara did on the cricket, always a sparkle, always a sense of enjoyment.
He leaves a distinctive legacy as a batsman and a sportsman in the true sense of the word.
Every young cricketer in the Caribbean wants to bat like Lara. Even my granddaughter, three and a half years old, knows his name, if nothing else about the game.
It is the kind of example once left by the likes of Headley, the Ws and Sobers and it has helped sustain waning interest during a prolonged period of decline.
Like those great West Indians whose mantle he has carried with distinction, he maintained the otherwise outdated values of walking when he knew he had hit the ball and refusing to join the modern tactic of sledging opponents.
Whatever his faults, and they are well known, he conducted himself with charm and dignity.
As a batsman, he leaves an obvious void for he was the only great one of his time in the West Indies team.
Headley begat the Ws, Sobers and Kanhai followed them, then onto the Lloyd Era in which Richards, Greenidge and others excelled.
Perhaps there is another Sobers, Richards or Lara somewhere in a small West Indian village even now waiting to bestride cricket's stage as they did. For the time being, the memories of Lara will linger long.