Sir Vivian Richards ranks Brian Charles Lara among the most brilliant in the world but thinks the cricketer missed the opportunity to unify the team during his tenure as captain. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

This is the conclusion of an interview with legendary West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards, who is currently on tour for the series against England. He is spokesperson for Johnnie Walker's 'Know Your Boundaries Responsible Drinking' campaign.

BE: Athletes, at the top of their game, tend to develop some amount of arrogance. Have you been accused of being arrogant?

VR: I have been accused of arrogance but if someone comes to me with a foolish question, they will get a foolish answer. Classifying me as arrogant gives me no headache. It's no skin of my nose; I stand up for what I believe in.

But, on the other hand, one needs a level of arrogance to stay on top of one's game?

I wouldn't say it's arrogance, I call it confidence. I don't think I'm an arrogant person. Folks at home will tell you that I am still the same guy, I have never thought to take off flying.

There is an age old belief that cricket is a gentlemen's game. Do you believe this?

Rubbish! I found that that was total rubbish, there is no such thing. You only have to hear the things said to one another on the field when these 'gentlemen' meet out there. When a guy tells you what he wants to do with your face with the next delivery, you will know he's no gentleman.

BE: What about bowling now? Are we relying on too much on pace?

What I see is that we have to have scouts to get perfection in fast bowling. You have to be special for fast bowling, you have to be over 5ft 9in.

What made us successful in the past was the height factor. Those guys were physically intimidating: Joel Garner was 6ft 8in; Colin Croft was six foot seven; Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose were also over six foot seven. Malcolm Marshall was the smallest of the pack but still a big guy and all were very special. When you look at our fast bowlers today, they are very small. Someone recently joked to me that they look like they should be on a horseback with a whip!

What about the slower bowlers?

There are lots of them around but they need quality and volume, like Warne and Muralitharan were good because they were beyond ordinary spinners. The last special spinner we had was Lance Gibbs. He was among the top-class spinners in the world.

Your batting style was said to be unorthodox but statistics show it was effective and productive. How do you explain it? Could you anticipate each delivery? Was it your excellent eyesight and can you recall when you first picked up a bat?

I picked up a bat at a very young age because my father was a representative of the island. I used to put on his pads and play with my siblings. My father was the only serious believer in my abilities and he used to say, 'Viv has eyes like a pigeon'.

He knew my ability but he never used to encourage me. It was I went to England to play county cricket that things began looking great. I would say my success was due to being focused. I respected the game, the team and my country, and I was disciplined. I was not into partying late at night when I knew I had to play a game early next morning.

Have any of your children followed in your footsteps?

My 24-year-old son played a little but I have encouraged him like my other three children to get a serious education, I am not one of those parents to pressure my children to do what I do.

Where did you enjoy playing most outside the Caribbean?

I always enjoyed playing in England; the cricket is well organised. I am a bit of perfectionist, so I love knowing all is running smoothly and in county cricket, it was evident. The professional attitude was there.

Do you think coaching is needed more at the Test stage, or at the developmental stage of cricket, or is there room for both?

I think our motto should be to have a trend on how we would like our cricket to be played for the period of time we think we will be reigning. You have to have people who are in sync. From the development stage, the youngsters should know what they need to know to further their advancement to the next level and be on the same track. Too many times we lose our younger ones because of poor planning.

If you did a survey on many young players who would have been successful if they had the proper guidance, you would ask where are they today? We lose them between 20-28 years. Teams in the Premier Leagues in England stay with their young players, but we have too many different levels trying to achieve one goal. It should be systematic.

How did the gruelling travel schedule away from home affect your family life?

It affected it a lot. When I used to travel, my wife spent a lot of time in England where we have a home. One of my sons was born there, hence my close connections there. We had to think about school.

Did it affect your focus or concentration on the game?

Only if there were something serious, like illness. But once you have their support and they are behind what you are doing, all was well. With up to six months away from home, it was important to have the family structure in place.

I have picked one name for you to respond to and it's Brian Charles Lara.

My honest opinion is that he is a magnificent and brilliant batsman, immaculate, clean and tidy. He had the trump card in his hand with all his achievements, and those at the lower end looked up to him but he let them down.

I think he failed them badly in the effort to move forward and make that structure a much more collective and successful one. He was responsible for much of the disenchantment, but I am not taking away from him as a brilliant player. I will pay any money to see him bat any day. He's a classy batsman.

Thanks to the management of the Liguanea Club in New Kingston for allowing us to use their facilities for the interview. Send feedback to barbara.ellington@gleanerjm.com