Up to the Board, says Lara (8 February 1999)

8 February 1999

Up to the Board, says Lara

The Barbados Nation

CENTURION, South Africa - Brian Lara, captain of the most dismal tour in West Indies cricket history, said yesterday he was content to leave decisions on his future in the hands of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

He was speaking after South Africa won the final One-Day International by 50 runs at Centurion Park. It left South Africa 6-1 winners of the limited overs series to add to their 5-0 drubbing of West Indies in the Tests.

"My captaincy is something that is up to the West Indies Board to decide," Lara said, "but I am happy to serve West Indian cricket in whatever capacity."

Lara, world record-holder of the highest Test and first-class individual scores, said he believed players and authorities needed to meet and decide the way forward.

"There are a lot of worrying signs. We need to get everyone together to sort out how best to rectify the situation," he said. "It might be a long process but we have to be able to play cricket of a reasonable standard.

"The only consolation is that a lot of teams have come back from this."

During the three-month tour, West Indies won just three out of 21 matches, two of which were friendlies against provincial invitation teams. Their only international success was against South Africa in the second One-Day match in East London.

Lara denied that the pay dispute between players and the WICB at the beginning of the tour had affected their on-field performance.

"We have been through that and been bombarded by questions about it," he said. "At the end of the day, not everybody played to the best of their ability. Problems off the field should not affect what happens on the field."

Lara has little time to get his side back on track with Australia due to arrive for a tour of the Caribbean in two weeks' time.

"Australia are the best cricketing nation in the world at the moment and we certainly don't want to lose at home to them," he said.

South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was understandably overjoyed at his team's performance.

"It's easy to lose that professional edge in a series like this, but the guys stuck to it," he said. "It's always a great honour to play the West Indies, even if they are a bit off." (Reuters)

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)