Holding Says Lara Needs Psychiatric Help (20 Dec 1995)

Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 20 December 1995

Holding says Lara needs `psychiatric help`

Ihithisham Kamardeen reports on the latest outburst against absent West Indies batsman

MICHAEL HOLDING, the former West Indies fast bowler, says Brian Lara has brought problems on himself and that he needs psychiatric treatment.

Holding, in Melbourne to play in a charity match, believes the West Indies Cricket Board of Control have been lenient with Lara over indiscretions on the recent English tour and his subsequent withdrawal from the Australian series.

"I think Brian Lara needs psychiatric help. I`d put it as simply as that," Holding said. "He needs someone to sit down with him and let him realise what life is all about and to get help."

Recent reports from the West Indies also suggest there was a rift between Lara and Richie Richardson, the West Indies captain, resulting from lack of team discipline. This has been strongly denied by Richardson.

According to the report, Lara had threatened to retire and was upset with the lack of discipline in the team, which he blamed on Richardson. For his part, Richardson said that if that was what Lara thought it was his prerogative.

Lara withdrew from the World Series Cup after he was fined for being absent without permission for three days during the England tour. Curtly Ambrose, Kenny Benjamin and Carl Hooper were also fined after the tour. The WICBC, though, decided against punishing Lara, 26, for refusing to make himself available for the Australian tour.

Doug Walters, the former Australian Test player, agreed with Holding

Holding, who is a member of the Jamaican Cricket Board, said people in the West Indies had become disillusioned with the team. "I don`t think they are a unit and that is a problem. For about 18 months now the people at home have not been very impressed with the way the team have been playing.

"It`s just one of those things. When you are on top of the world for 15 or 20 years people become accustomed to winning and they can`t accept losing. I think it is a matter of how you lose and how you look out on the field when you are losing."

Doug Walters, the former Australian Test player, agreed with Holding, declaring that the West Indies were not in the same league as the teams he had played against in the Sixties and Seventies.

"They certainly aren`t even close to the West Indies sides I remember playing against in the years gone by," he said. "The batting seems a real problem, and there is nobody getting runs. They need a few wins to get their confidence back and it remains to be seen if they can do it before the summer is over."

Lara, meanwhile, maintained a dignified silence in Port of Spain over the comments that he needed "psychiatric help". At least one member, though, of the WICBC came to his defence.

"Lara`s situation has nothing to do with psychological problems," said Alloy Lequay, one of two Trinidadian officials on the WICBC. "He just felt uncomfortable about going on tour with people he felt were indisciplined and about who he had himself complained and was upset about being tried twice for the same offence."

Though he said it does not apply in Lara`s case, Lequay believed the presence of a resident psychologist with the West Indies team on future tours might be useful in defusing problems before they become serious and threaten the performance of individual cricketers.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http: www.telegraph.co.uk)