M Johnson: Lara Back To Century Business (26 Jan 1996)

Electronic Telegraph Friday 26 January 1996

Lara back in century business after adding more noughts to bank balance

Martin Johnson reports from Pointe-a-Pierre on the return from self-imposed exile of Trinidad`s No 1 cricketing son

NOT so long ago, he was thought of as a unspoiled, softly-spoken genius with the world at his feet. Now they are saying that the world must truly be a big place for Brian Lara`s feet, which have outgrown his boots by almost as many sizes as he has scored centuries, to fit into it. Furthermore, they are saying that the reason his team-mates now look up to him, is because his feet have left the ground by such a spectacular margin that even Curtly Ambrose would need to clamber onto an orange box to look him squarely in the eye.

Today, in Pointe-Pierre, Lara captains Trinidad in the Red Stripe Cup against Barbados, returning to first-class cricket after an uneasy exile which began last summer.

It was during the Old Trafford Test that the West Indian captain, Richie Richardson, looked Lara squarely in the eye after Lara had called his leadership into question. Richardson, addressing a man he knows is after his job, said: "I will not bow to egotistical people who have agendas and ambitions." Lara, in a fit of pique, left threatening to quit, and went AWOL (holing up with his boyhood chum, the Aston Villa footballer Dwight Yorke) for the next game.

During that Old Trafford Test, Angus Fraser, on the receiving end of Lara`s genius, jovially invited his tormentor to make the most of a flat pitch (with the inference that he could expect a few around his ears on a slightly more sporting surface) and was a little miffed when Lara declined his proferred handshake at the end of the game. In the final Test of the series, at the Oval, Fraser beat him a couple of times, and Lara asked the bowler whether his meaningful stare was intended to convey any particular message. Fraser replied: "Yes, I`d just like to say it`s a privilege to be sharing the same sporting arena with someone who`s bigger than the game."

Lara then requested that the first 12 months of a new three-year contract with Warwickshire be waived on the grounds that he was tired, and then he declined to join the West Indies party for a one-day tournament in Australia, ostensibly for the same reason, but thought to be not unconnected to a docking of wages following the tour management`s report on his disappearing act in England.

Two schools of thought emerged. There were those who felt that Lara was an understandably confused young man weighed down by bad advice and the pressures of stardom, and those who believed that he had become a calculating bighead, prepared to take his bat home and sulk if he did not get his way.

"Leave the boy alone," was the message from the likes of his boyhood mentor, Joey Carew. "He should never tour again," was the view of the former West Indian fast bowler, Michael Holding. In a collection of self-governing islands where unity is a difficult objective even when the West Indies are winning, Lara has split public opinion more sharply than a machete-wielding pavement vendor slicing open a coconut.

The rift between Lara and the West Indian Cricket Board is a long way from being healed despite his inclusion this week in the World Cup squad, in that the board`s announcement contained the following statement. "Brian Lara was written to by the chairman of selectors regarding his involvement in several recent incidents and requesting re-assurance of his commitment to the team and his loyalty to his fellow players. The player re-stated his commitment to West Indian cricket and his respect and admiration of the West Indian community. Lara further added that, if selected, he would endeavour to perform to the best of his ability."

Larry Gomes, the newly-appointed coach of Lara`s native Trinidad, admitted yesterday that "a lot of people have not forgiven him for events leading up to and including his withdrawal from the tour to Australia". However, if that has filtered through to Lara himself, it is certainly not apparent from his jovial demeanour.

However, he is already showing disturbing signs that his rediscovered "commitment to West Indian cricket" comes a comfortable second to his commitment to Brian Lara. Having announced that he was "raring to go" for today`s game, it quickly transpired that in the one place he was not particularly raring to go to was his team`s net practice. While the rest of the Trinidad squad were digging into their kit bags in Pointe-Pierre, Lara was busy attending to other business back in Port of Spain.

Lara`s agenda on Wednesday was far too hectic for anything as unlucrative as practising, and he spent most of it discussing the marketing of his new range of personally endorsed cricket equipment with the South African agent, Neville Bernstein, who is fronting this enterprise: "Brian Lara International". However, if Lara is also hoping Bernstein will promote his image, then he may have a problem.

Bernstein initially said that Lara`s business commitments would not preclude him from attending the Trinidad team`s practice, which was not taking place until early evening, and would be held under floodlights. Curious preparation for a daylight game, and slightly at odds with the information that the Trinidad players had assembled in Pointe-Pierre, Lara-less, in mid-afternoon, and that Gomes had been informed that Lara had a "prior engagement".

In mid-afternoon in Port of Spain, Bernstein said that Lara had finished his business and was on his way to practice, but upon learning that a number of journalists were intending to head off to see him, he said: "I shouldn`t bother if I were you. It`s a long way," (45 minutes) "and Brian may be planning to practise somewhere on his own." Not long after, Bernstein gave up the pretence, and said that Lara was never intending to go to practice in the first place. Bernstein was also keen to promote himself as a man of cricketing knowledge, and declared that the answer to England`s problems was to sack Illingworth, and appoint Gower and Botham. From the Titanic to the Skylark in one easy lesson, and it would certainly fit in with Lara`s idea of prematch preparation.

All this is hardly compelling evidence for Lara`s claim that his self-appointed break has re-charged the batteries, as the only charging that appeared to be on his agenda this week was how much to charge for his new range of bats, the 375 and the 501. Having split with his previous manufacturer, Gray Nichols, it might be instructive for people to know who is making Lara`s new bats. You`ve guessed it. Gray Nichols. It is much the same syndrome as Heinz selling their baked beans to supermarkets, who then slap their own label onto the can.

Lara, submerged though he is in business matters, remains undeniably chirpy, and claims that his decision to withdraw from the West Indies` trip to Australia was the best thing for both parties. "If you find yourself playing for 11 to 12 months of the year, then at some point, if you are going to play consistently, you have to have a break. Otherwise," he said, with a chuckle "you could end up with acute fatigue syndrome." It was difficult not to link the chuckle with a thinly veiled reference to Richardson, who himself cited "acute fatigue syndrome" when withdrawing from his contract with Yorkshire in 1994.

"It is not just the physical commitment," Lara said. "Part of it is definitely mental. I have based a lot of my cricket on the mental side of things, and if you begin to find that it is lacking, you need to do something about it. The stress and the pressures on me since making 375 and 501 have been really high, and countries have got to look after their top players."

Lara is well aware that while some countries have enough money to contract their players out of the need to seek English summer contracts, but that does not apply to the impoverished West Indies Board. In which case, he says, "every individual has to look after himself". Lara looked after himself, he said, by pulling out of yet another tiring jaunt overseas, and putting his feet up. "I just spent all my time with family and friends. I haven`t even played much golf."

As far as Lara being bigger than the game, a man who knows him well, sports editor of the Trinidad Express, Earl Best, thinks that would be an overstatement. "Let`s just say Brian probably thinks he`s bigger than the West Indian Cricket Board. He is highly intelligent and an outstanding captain, but he`s still a bit immature, a bit of a baby really."

Having burned his boats with Warwickshire, Lara is not looking - he said -for another county contract at the moment, but "in the future, definitely. I need to go there to play cricket at that time of the year, and cricket is my whole life". Last summer in England, Lara told the West Indian management that cricket was "ruining my life", though there are many who still believe that, in Lara`s case, ruined actually means spoiled. By no means the least interesting aspect of the World Cup will be to monitor the body language between Lara and Richardson.

The next 12 months, especially if Richardson`s captaincy does not survive the World Cup, might go a long way towards Lara either cementing his place among the pantheon of West Indian greats or whether, like George Best, he will be overwhelmed by the pressures.

At the moment, though, his adoring Trinidadian public are looking no further than his next innings, and despite the fact that today will be the first time that he has played in a first-class game for almost six months, there is not a man or woman on this island who does not expect him to mark it with anything other than a century.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)