Another Lara Hit Parade

Brian Lara has won again. It reaffirms that he has the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in the palm of his hands.

Last Thursday morning, there was speculation that suggested Brian Lara wouldn't be going to England, even a possibility that he might retire from the game.

The local, regional and international media were pregnant with information. Lara, they say, had written the board a letter stating his intentions.

By 11:35 a.m., after formalities at Sherbourne Conference Centre where chairman of selectors Mike Findlay and other WICB officials had taken their places to announce the 16 for England, we were stunned to hear that Lara was going after, all.

My immediate reaction was that he was our best leg-spinner because he had bowled the board yet another unplayable googly. They might have expected it, though, based on Lara's antecedents.

It should've been fresh in their minds that after giving up the captaincy he said he would be available for a training camp in Jamaica prior to the tour by the Zimbabweans.

But before you could say 'carnival' we heard that Lara had suddenly become unavailable and was in the last stages of planning a big fete at his mansion. With it he announced that he'd be taking a break from the game to give his mind a rest. Everyone ' well almost everyone ' understood his position and sided with him.

Even I said let the 'Prince' be, and let him return in his own sweet time. I had no hint, like the rest of those on the outside looking in, that he was ready for England after getting information to the contrary. Lara's mother is ill, and he obviously wanted to stay close to monitor her progress. After all, you only get one; no problem with that.

My problem, though, is how on Tuesday when the team was chosen, he was unavailable due to the aforementioned circumstances. And sometime late on Wednesday night he had changed your mind. It begs the question: Did the selectors agree to leave the door open for a change of heart?

On reflection, I think not. Judging from Findlay's demeanour when asked who Lara replaced in the squad I believe he had the most uncomfortable experience of telling that player he was no longer in the squad.

Even for Lara, it was a development that shouldn't be encouraged. One day, coming soon the board will live to regret this decision. We cannot continue to baby-sit Lara.

As I said before, if he isn't ready to return, he should not force the pace no matter what his close friends might have told him. Yet again he has vowed his committment to West Indies cricket, but I would like Lara to start showing it rather than talking about it without giving any real evidence of it.

Then again, if you've been elevated to the status of cricketing god, you have licence to do as you please.

Ask a certain Brian Charles Lara.