Sobers: Make Lara captain now (Apr 12 1997)

Friday, April 11, 1997

Sobers: Make Lara captain now

BY IRVING WARD

LEGENDARY cricketer Sir Gary Sobers yesterday added his voice to the chorus calling for Brian Lara to be made captain of the West Indies team.

"I would back a vote to make Brian Lara captain any time. As a matter of fact I was backing that move a long time ago," stated Sobers, whose belief in Lara's ability as both player and skipper is no secret to fans across the region.

The former West Indies captain was speaking yesterday at the end of a news conference held by the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) at the Trinidad Hilton.

Asked what he felt was the main reason for the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) overlooking Lara and continuing with Courtney Walsh as captain, Sobers explained that his (Lara's) conduct over the last couple years has been the major obstacle to his promotion.

"Brian has probably brought some of this on himself. But I think a lot of it is that things have happened over the last few years with Brian that have probably kept him back from being captain. And I think that if those things had not happened, he would have been appointed captain before."

Recalling that he has long backed Lara for the captaincy, Sobers contended that it was only now that he seemed to have the support he was seeking before.

"I think that I can recall many, many years ago, when Brian first came into cricket, that I thought he should have been captain," he explained. "A lot of people used to scoff at me when I said that, but now everybody in the West Indies, everybody in the world, thinks that Brian Lara is a captain.

"Nobody was ever on Brian's side as a captain," he continued. "They were always saying that he was too young and he was too intolerant and all these different things. Now after that one Test match in Barbados, everybody's crying 'we want Brian, we want Brian'," exclaimed Sobers, referring to Lara's captaincy in the West Indies' thrilling 38-run victory over India in the third Test at the Kensington Oval in Barbados two weeks ago.

Conceding that the condition of the Kensington pitch had a lot to do with the win, Sobers said that all the signs were pointing to Lara as the obvious choice as head of the team.

"I think that he will be a good leader because I've always felt that, as far as West Indies cricket is concerned, Brian is probably the only really trained captain that we've ever had because he's gone through all the processes. I don't think that any other West Indies captain has gone through the same amount as Brian has gone through. So I'm all for him." Sobers argued that Lara's position may also be unique because he has a huge burden to carry.

"Over the last three or four years, a lot of pressure has been put on Brian unnecessarily because the West Indies have 11 players and all of them should be pulling their weight. All you hear when you listen to cricket or you read the paper is that Brian failed, West Indies lose and that Brian didn't pull his weight or didn't do this or didn't do that."When in cricket it comes down to one man," he commented, "that is where a lot of pressure is put on him."

Pointing out that he remains Lara's confidant and one of his biggest fans and best friends, Sobers said: "All great players need somebody to look at them every time and say you're doing this wrong, because we do get into bad habits. In Australia and even here in the West Indies, Brian has got into bad habits. But I've spoken to him about them and he kind of said to me, 'yes'.

"I think he's got the ability and I think he will settle down. He does one or two wrong things that need looking at, but I am sure he will get around to that."

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)