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BY
VINODE MAMCHAN
Last-minute appeals by a number of former great West Indian
players convinced T&T star batsman Brian Lara to have
a third go at captaining the West Indies cricket team.
To the surprise of many, Lara was named captain by president
of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Ken Gordon at a press
conference at the board’s office, Carlos Street, Woodbrook,
yesterday.
In an immediate response, Lara said he accepted the job to
help guide the troubled team, following discussions with some
of the former greats in West Indies cricket.
Among those who spoke to Lara was former captain Clive Lloyd,
current chairman of the cricket development committee, and
Joey Carew, convener of selectors.
Lara also revealed that Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who quit the
job last week, called and assured him of total support.
“He
called me and told me that he was in full support of anyone
who was chosen to take over but said I should give the leadership
serious consideration,” Lara said.
Lara was first given the captaincy in 1998, replacing Courtney
Walsh. In 2000, he resigned after moderate success.
When Carl Hooper failed to take the West Indies beyond the
first round of the 2003 World Cup, Lara was again given the
captaincy.
However, Lara resigned the captaincy a year ago after refusing
to sign contracts with the West Indies Cricket Board that
gave WICB sponsor Digicel commercial rights, in apparent violation
of existing individual sponsorship deals the players had with
other companies.
He was replaced by Chanderpaul.
Lara is confident that the team can improve.
“I
feel I have the support this time and I think that this exciting
bunch of cricketers is really committed to the rebuilding
process,” he said.
“I
am also very happy with the new cricket committee and after
talking to the former players and realising that the commitment
of these guys was parallel to when they were playing...this
aroused my interest.
“This
is the time to plan properly with the World Cup upon us and
start to turn around the game in the Caribbean.
“West
Indies cricket is at a stage where upward mobility is necessary
and we have to all start working to achieve this.
“Ever
since our cricket started to deteriorate, we have been hearing
that we will soon turn the corner.
“It
has never come to fruition and now we must first take a look
at where we are which is two or three places at the bottom
of the limited overs rankings and two or three places at the
bottom of the Test rankings and start to plan for success.
“At
the end of my time as captain for a third time, I would only
think success was achieved if I produced a good leader to
take over from me, help facilitate a better relationship between
the players and the board and lead the turnaround in our cricketing
fortunes.”
Gordon said Lara would not be an interim captain.
“He
has been chosen for the home tours and we will look at what
is happening with the leadership as is the case for every
tour.”
The team to oppose Zimbabwe in the first two one-day internationals
on Saturday and Sunday in Antigua was also released.
Surprise omission is T&T captain Daren Ganga. No vice-captain
has been named and Gordon said the board was not ready to
name one.
West Indies team: Brian Lara (capt), Chris Gayle, Runako Morton,
Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Marlon
Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Corey Collymore, Fidel
Edwards, Jerome Taylor and Ian Bradshaw.
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