Lara for life (28 April 1999)

28 April 1999

Lara for life

Gayle Alleyne

Brian Lara can be captain of the West Indies cricket team for as long as he wants - "it's up to him".

That's the view of team manager Clive Lloyd in assessing the Test and One-Day series against Australia after the seventh and final One-Day on Sunday at Kensington Oval here.

"I think Brian Lara has done marvellously well for the pressure he has been under. When you captain the West Indies team, you have pressure just being captain and getting men together. He needs help, and he's getting all the help he needs.

"He has realised all the things he has done in the past...Now, it's up to him. If he wants, he can be captain as long as he wants. The guy is very astute; a tremendous cricketer, a genius as far as I am concerned.

"We, the grounds staff, will have to help him all the way."

Lloyd praised the entire West Indies unit for drawing both the Test (2-2) and limited-overs series (3-3) with unofficial world champions Australia.

"I thought it was an excellent series. One that I will never forget because of the closeness [of the results]; the hard-fought battle, especially coming from a very tough series in South Africa."

It was also a heartening result, he noted, since the talent pool of regional cricketers is not as bountiful as before.

"We don't have a lot of youngsters who are ready to just jump in there. We've had to play some inexperienced players, but we've done very well here. We've matched the world champions, and we must be proud of that."

Asked if the outcome of the Australian series has bolstered his feelings about the West Indies chances in next month's World Cup, the Guyanese pointed out that the team has not fared badly in recent One-Day competitions.

"We've been to three or four One-Day tournament finals in the last few years. It's not that we are not good at One-Day cricket. We've been developing a pretty good team. I think we now have a very good chance once we play to the best of our ability. We should at least qualify [from the preliminary round] and from there it's anybody's show."

As for the West Indies' Test performances, Lloyd said it was away tours that have been proving the stumbling blocks.

"We haven't really done badly at home. We must now, in terms of success, take what we do in the West Indies overseas. That's our problem. Working overseas.

"It's not only in the last three or four years. It's since ten years ago we haven't done well overseas. We've just matched the opposition. We need to be a much stronger side when we go overseas."

The former West Indies skipper applauded the crowds' support at all matches despite the big disappointment of South Africa where the regional team lost 5-0 in the Tests and 6-1 in the One-Days.

"They [the crowds] gave us that extra spur to do well against Australia. I can't congratulate them enough for what they have done for us."

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)