'I never rated Lara as a leader'

In the Sky commentary box, Holding looks on aghast, or at least as aghast as his supremely unruffled demeanour will allow, as West Indies crumble to the heaviest Test defeat in their history, by an innings and 283 runs. When he has finished his stint at the microphone, I venture that quite such a steamrollering would not have happened had Brian Lara still been captain. Holding raises an elegant eyebrow. He sees the recently retired Lara as part of the problem. "The team needs leadership and I never rated Lara as a leader," he says. "You hear a lot about his selfishness. Ridley Jacobs said a lot about that when he retired, and people cursed him, saying he had no class. But Ridley Jacobs never did anything out of line as a cricketer, so I have no reason to doubt what he says. I have seen Lara's behaviour. And he was not good tactically. I saw him make a lot of mistakes."