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Stabroek News

Sport mail bag
published: Sunday | April 29, 2007


Brian Lara ... deserved a better farewell. - Reuters

  • Sad to see Lara go

    THE EDITOR, Sir:

    IT IS very sad to see Brian Lara bow out of cricket in this fashion. I wish the West Indies would give him a momentous farewell, and not leave us with the memory of Marlon Samuels' historical goodbye to Lara, by running him out.

    A wonderful cricketer, Lara defied the historic statement that "you are as good as your last game".

    If greatness in cricket is measured by the total amount of runs scored, the number of years played and the dominance over your opponents to change the results of games, who will argue that Lara is a genius? This man has single-handedly whipped the opposition so many times and in the process he has captivated audiences all over the world. Breaking Sir Garfield Sobers' record then following with 501 in England and in THE defining moment in cricket history, he reclaims the HIGHEST Test record, after Matthew Hayden briefly took it away from him. Who can dare to compare?

    Sadly, the West Indies Cricket Board has failed Brian Lara. It took away the power of his captaincy and selected to run it in their own failing style. Cricket in the West Indies cannot survive this way. Low morale and poor incentives have been the norm and this has forced individual players to build their own style and ego within the team, including Lara.

    His ego and sharp tongue took over and forever changed his game and his relationship with the board and some spectators. It would have been nice to see Lara end his game in Test cricket against England, the inventors and historians of this glorious game.

    It is the hope of all West Indians that the board will reform their self-destructive attitudes, fire a few bad eggs and give the new captain room to function and put confidence in a good balanced team. They must make changes on this 'politically incited' roster that was selected for the World Cup.

    Ramnaresh Sarwan will be a good choice to take over the leadership role. It is my fervent wish that as he delicately defines his moment in cricket's history, he will take as his guiding principles the leadership styles, humility and dominant legacies left by Worrell, Sobers, Kanhai, Lloyd, Richards and, of course, Brian Lara.

    Heartfelt thanks for the fond memories Brian Lara has given us over the years and I hope he will continue to lend a helping hand to the improvement of West Indian cricket. I wish him the very best in life.

    A true star and a wonderful human being whose achievements are forever etched in history.

    I am, etc.,

    SHEIK HOUSEIN,

    Washington, D.C., United States

  • The way forward

    THE EDITOR, Sir:

    AS A fan of cricket, a student of the game and also an umpire, I hope you will afford me the opportunity to publicly make my contribution on what I think can be an approach to the way forward for West Indies cricket.

    Scrap the big money spending on coaches for men who are already set in their bad habits and channel that same money into getting the best coaches working with kids in their formative years at their introduction to this glorious game.

    A lot of the persons I see going around as coaches for these kids actually do more irreversible harm than good. I again say for emphasis, that the kids must be afforded the best coaching possible in their young years, from say 10 years old. Bend the tree when it is young!

    This business of an academy, which again requires heavy funding, can be, to my mind, approached from a territorial perspective. This can be done with each territory designating a boarding school, or schools, where the brightest prospects with the best available coach, can attend school and be expertly coached and trained, all in one package, using the very principles of the expensive to operate academy.

    I know there is going be the argument of it being unfair to the other schools, but at the end of it all, we will all agree that it is for the greater good, West Indies cricket!

    As an umpire, standing in matches with kids in the primary schools competition through to the Headley Cup, I am able to pick up a few of their deficiencies: The lack of proper technique, in all aspects of the game; the non-existence of patience, the non-existence of mental toughness; their inability to tolerate even their very teammates, just to name a few.

    I have often heard fielders telling batsmen who are trying to build a good inning to either hurry up and get out or start "licking di ball" because they are making the game boring. One may think that it's only a form of gamesmanship, but I assure you it's not. These kids have a quick-fix mentality and if not corrected from that level, I believe it is next to impossible to correct when they get older.

    I honestly believe that if we can start properly coaching our kids, and by coaching I mean technically, physically and mentally, by the time they get to the Test level, they would be consummate professionals and the need for a highly paid coach would not be all that relevant if at all needed. I believe the best coach or coaches should be at the junior level.

    I am, etc.,

    DELANO SMITH

    odel7@hotmail.com

    Ocho Rios, St. Ann

  • A display of disloyalty

    THE EDITOR, Sir:

    WITH REGARD to West Indies cricket and Brian Lara's retirement, I would like to express my disgust at the display of disloyalty and insularity from cricket fans across the region.

    No human being could withstand the psychological bombardment that the West Indies cricket team, and in particular Brian Lara, received from the region's fans and media pundits - most notably the Jamaicans led by TVJ Sports. Fans of the other participating nations in Cricket World Cup, even if at times disappointed, were visibly supportive of their teams, both in victory and in defeat.

    It is this shameful behaviour from their fans, at home and in front of their adversaries, that I believe, led to the defeat of the West Indies cricket team and indeed to the retirement of Brian Lara.

    I have come to the conclusion that West Indians do not really regard the West Indies cricket team as their national side and I suppose this is understandable as there really is no West Indian nation.

    It seems the only thing that kept West Indies cricket together and in fact, made it the premier sport in the region, was the fact that we were world beaters and/or featured some players who were rated the best in the world. We are now not world beaters and, with the exit of Lara, we do not have a player who is rated amongst the best in the world.

    Lara and his records were the best things that West Indies cricket had going for it. Lara should have been given the region's full support and encouragement to continue playing as long as his abilities enabled him to add to his astonishing record.

    With the back of Lara, we may well be seeing the demise of a great West Indian tradition.

    I am, etc.,

    M. HAUGHTON JAMES

  • Who should be next?

    THE EDITOR, Sir:

    LET'S HAVE a conversation about who the next leader should be.

    Do we have anyone who can stand up and be counted? As we turn the corner and a next chapter in Caribbean history, our discussion will be structured on assessing our West Indian great, Brian Charles Lara, maybe we might even begin to find the answer as to why West Indies cricket has declined over the years. Now that the 'Prince' is gone, one begs to ask the question as to what was achieved under Lara's stewardship.

    This conversation is important as we seek to critically examine the issues as to what's wrong with West Indies cricket. We shouldn't have to look too far for an answer but first we must define leadership.

    Leadership, it is said, is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and it is the character which inspires confidence.

    Now that Brian is gone, who will we criticise?

    We are not immune to criticism ourselves. As parents, our parenting skills or lack thereof, have been chastised by the so-called experts whenever the pickney gwaan bad. This too is the fate that the recently retired West Indian captain has had to undergo.

    In the gully today we would like to state that maybe we are looking in the wrong places or looking at the wrong attributes and consider that as being qualities of a leader. Enough talk about who is not talking to whom in the slips or who is the next Big Man in West Indies cricket.

    Being a leader means that you have to have a mission, a vision and the ability to inspire a team to achieve this vision.

    Lara said he wants to be remembered as an entertainer. A thinking captain, a master batsman, but a leader he wasn't. Lara was an entertainer. That was his objective, that was his mission and we say well done, mission accomplished.

    Let us now go on and find someone who really has the desire to get us to the Promised Land. Hopefully their goals will be the same as our goals and that is to return West Indies cricket back to its rightful glory days and bring back some pride to West Indian people.

    I am, etc.,

    CRAIG THOMAS

    cregdt@yahoo.com

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