Success in Caribbean significant for Lara (4 Apr 1997)

Friday 4 April 1997

Success in Caribbean significant for Lara

Geoffrey Dean notes how errant Trinidadian has mended fragile reputation with the authorities

BRIAN LARA`S performance as captain in his first Test in charge was a highly impressive one. So much so that the West Indies Board are probably as delighted with him as with the remarkable 38-run victory over India in the third Test.

They may just believe that after all the problems they have had with their wayward genius over the past couple of years, he is at last embracing maturity rather than flirting with it.

To say that Lara is intent on rebirth is perhaps a little strong. But errant temperament and tendencies can often be reformed by responsibility, and so easily did it rest on Lara`s shoulders in Barbados that it was clear he is a natural leader.

He has captained Trinidad for three years, and not without distinction. Only last September he was wideley praised for his tactics in a win against the odds in a one-day final against Guyana.

Against India he handled his bowlers brilliantly, getting the absolute best out of them in the second innings, and was as positive in the field as he is when he bats; he did not wait for things to happen.

Above all, he transmitted his belief, according to Ian Bishop, to his side that they had a better than even chance of bowling India out for less than 120. Of Lara`s tactical astuteness there can be no doubt. Nor of a clear superiority in this respect over Courtney Walsh, whose hamstring injury forced him to miss the third Test.

Walsh returns as captain for the fourth, starting today in Antigua. An example of Lara`s greater awareness came in the second Test in Port of Spain when Walsh went off the field for an over.

Lara brought in a short extra cover for Sachin Tendulkar. But upon his return, Walsh reverted to his old field whereupon Tendulkar immediately popped up what would have been a straight-forward catch to short extra.

Where Walsh`s field placings tend to be unimaginative and defensive, there is more than a hint of Mark Taylor`s careful planning and audacity in Lara`s.

His placings are, unless the state of the game forbids it, invariably attacking. Not just for the sake of it, but also as a show of faith in the bowlers, the best of whom will up their game as a consequence.

In both Indian innings Lara was forever chivvying his four fast-bowlers, encouraging them between overs and often making the journey from first-slip to talk to them in the middle of an over.

"It`s cost us a lot of money," he joked on the morning after a night of long celebration with the West Indies` most loyal supporters` group, the Trini Posse, many of whom are close personal friends.

"I think we were fined a lot because of our slow overrate. My sorties to talk to the bowlers didn`t help in this respect, but they were necessary.

"There was no point in time when we could relax - we didn`t get a big firstinnings total and later, of course, we had to defend a very small target. I needed to keep at the bowlers.

"Players like Ambrose, you don`t need to tell much, but with the two young guys, Rose and Dillon, you needed to fish around with ideas, to tell them what you want to do, find out what they want to do. But I don`t know if I`d be talking to fast bowlers quite as much as that in the future."

Lara`s bowling changes were hard to fault, and he was right not to risk Mervyn Dillon on the final day after his erratic bowling in the first innings.

Lara will surely now be considered for the captaincy of the tour to Pakistan in October. Before the Barbados Test, this would have been unthinkable on account of past misdemeanours.

Virtually his only oversight in the match was to forget to bring out a coin for the toss.

Too embarrassed to ask the match referee for one, he managed to get one off a friend from the Trini Posse, who had infiltrated the square to film the toss with his video camera.

The only problem was that the Barbados one-dollar coin has no `heads` on it. Tendulkar called tails.

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