Warwicks want their pound of Lara flesh (23 Oct 1997)

Thursday, October 23, 1997

Warwicks want their pound of Lara flesh

Trinidad Express

BRIAN LARA may be having second thoughts about the contract he signed with English county side Warwickshire but the club is going full speed ahead with plans to have the double world record holder in their ranks for the 1998 season.

Lara is said to be uncertain about a second spell in English cricket since negotiations were opened for a one-year contract next summer. Club sources said that the signing is set for next month and, as far as Warwicks are concerned, there are no plans to change that arrangement. Warwickshire chief executive Dennis Amiss told reporters that Lara's alleged doubts came as a surprise to him because up to now the only stalling point was a delay in publication of the West Indies domestic fixture list for next spring.

Amiss said: "As far as we're concerned, we have an agreement with Brian for next summer.

"We're waiting for the West Indies Board to confirm their fixtures so that we know whether he will be available for a full season. Other than that, we're confident he'll be here next year."

This year's Red Stripe Cup extended well into the English summer and the overlap forced several counties to bring in replacements for their West Indian professionals.

Warwickshire are without overseas strike bowler Allan Donald next summer because of South Africa's tour to England. Lara was targeted as the stand-in after his contribution to the club's treble-winning campaign in 1994 when he joined Warwicks as the replacement for Indian allrounder Manoj Prabakhar.

And the West Indies star batsman's displays then have given the Warwickshire management good reason to confirm his return next year. In the months following his breaking of Sir Gary Sobers' world Test batting record, when he notched 375 against England, Lara lit up the County circuit scoring 2,066 runs and nine hundreds including the world record 501 not out against Durham, the highest-ever score in an individual innings in first class cricket.

However, the English county have had to compete for Lara's signature recently with the West Indies Cricket Board which has been attempting to have Lara contracted to them on a long-term basis.

The WICB last year introduced one-year contracts for a number of its players. However Lara, while approached, was not one of the signatories. Neither were WI captain Courtney Walsh and Carl Hooper who had recently signed new contracts with their counties. The Board is currently in the process of drawing up new contracts of one to three years in duration which it will be offering to a number of its players.

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