Lara emerges with little credit
The row over the “catch” taken by Daren Ganga to remove MS Dhoni which tarnished the final session of the fourth day’s play at Antigua’s Recreation Ground was the talk of the Caribbean’s newspapers on Tuesday, with Brian Lara's antics taking
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
The Nation
The row over the “catch” taken by Daren Ganga to remove MS Dhoni which tarnished the final session of the fourth day’s play at Antigua’s Recreation Ground was the talk of the Caribbean’s newspapers on Tuesday, with Brian Lara's antics taking centre stage.
Haydn Gill in the Barbados Nation lead the way.
“As the replays proved inconclusive, the decision was made in favour of the batsman. Lara appeared to ask for a further review, and when the verdict went against West Indies, he had a few words with Dhoni.”
The Jamaica Gleaner noted that Lara’s behaviour was less than exemplary:
“So upset was the West Indies captain that at one stage he dragged the ball away from the umpire at one end of the pitch before throwing it to the stumps at the other end as play seemed set to resume.”
In the Stabroek News Garth Wattley endorsed the view:
“Lara descended to finger pointing at the umpires, a pointed discussion with Dhoni and partner Mohammad Kaif and lastly, the angry grabbing of the ball from standing umpire Asad Rauf.”
That raised the question of a lack of consistency if, as most people believe, the match referee choses to do nothing against Lara while 24 hours earlier Mahela Jayawardene was fined 20% of his match fee for a moment of frustration with himself rather than any official.
Martin Williamson is executive editor of ESPNcricinfo and managing editor of ESPN Digital Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa