Why Lara should be impeached (14 February 1999)

14 February 1999

Why Lara should be impeached

Tony Cozier

Impeachment proceedings of one kind are over, others of a somewhat different nature have just started.

They will ultimately lead to the same conclusion.

Just as the United States Senate had to finally determine whether its president should be removed from office for his internationally publicised indiscretions, so too must the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) decide whether, and to what extent, its captain was responsible for the improprieties that led to the shaming of West Indies cricket in South Africa over the past three months and whether he should be replaced as a consequence.

There will be no coverage on our television screens, live or video-taped, of the salacious details revealed before the preliminary committee in Antigua last Thursday or of the full WICB meeting on February 22.

But the sordid background is well enough known from the deposition of a Test series whitewash, seen live and ball-by-ball in the Caribbean, for WICB members, like the public, to appreciate the issues at hand.

Not only Brian Lara is in the dock.

The WICB needs also to make a judgement on the role of manager Clive Lloyd, who seemed as powerless as Lara to prevent the wholesale disintegration, if for different reasons.

And, while it is at it, the WICB should take a careful look at itself and understand that its own indecision and internal divisions have been a source of much of the troubles.

There is certainly enough circumstantial evidence to judge whether or not Lara is guilty of a dereliction of duty.

By his continuing inattention to punctuality, training and net practice, he set the wrong example in South Africa and lost much of the support of his players who seemed so solidly behind him during the standoff with the WICB in London that preceded the tour.

What is more, Lara has neglected his own immense talent for so long that it has lost its edge, so that he could not give the lead where he was best equipped to do so, with his batting.

Not everyone was comfortable with his promotion to the captaincy in the first place.

Michael Holding reflected the cautious view at the time, charging that Lara had "followed his own agenda beyond the boundary" and that he should be appointed "only if he is prepared to devote 100 per cent of his attention to the team by cutting out some of his other interests".

Even after the West Indies' double triumph over England in Lara's first series, Holding remained wary, prophetically noting the challenge ahead in South Africa.

"The real Test will be his ability to keep his players as a harmonious unit during a series away from home," Holding wrote.

"A captain is not judged only on how he changes the bowling or arranges his field.

"How he motivates his men to want to play for him is vital and especially against South Africa who do have that sense of oneness."

To the Press in South Africa and, no doubt, to the WICB committee on Thursday, Lara gave disunity as one of the reasons for the debacle.

It was an admission that he could not keep his team as the "harmonious unit" Holding alluded to - and it showed.

So the reasons for installing a new captain are convincing. Whoever it is has to be strong, disciplined and respected enough to be able to unite his players behind him, a prime requirement in restoring the spirit needed against the Australians.

The most capable candidate is Ian Bishop. He is experienced, highly regarded by his peers and, from every report, achieved so much with so little on the "A" team tour of India and Bangladesh.

His debilitating back injuries have affected his bowling to such an extent that he cannot be said to be worth his place on the side but that is not the main consideration now.

Jimmy Adams, a tough, seasoned and versatile cricketer, is another being repeatedly mentioned and, even if his consistent high-scoring is now a thing of the past, he would not be out of place at No. 6.

His deficiency, according to knowledgeable critics in Jamaica and now here in Barbados, is his tactical grasp of the game.

If the WICB does decide that Lara has disqualified himself from the captaincy by his slackness, it would clearly be wrong to retain him simply because there is no clear-cut replacement.

Either he is still the man for job or he isn't.

If the latter, it must be prepared to bite the bullet as it has been afraid to do so long and turn to either Bishop or Adams.

It also has to properly define Lloyd's position. Rightly or wrongly, he is utterly frustrated by his lack of influence in decision-making, whether in team selection or long-term planning.

As was clear when he was first appointed as manager soon after his long, successful tenure as captain was over, he was not suited to such a mundane, administrative post.

He hankers for a more meaningful involvement in our cricket and it would be a shame if someone of his knowledge and reputation is lost through a lack of fulfilment. West Indies cricket has suffered enough from the drain of former players, as it is.

It is said that out of evil comes good and events in South Africa should bring the boil that has been festering for so long to bursting point.

They should turn the board's dealings with its players from weakness into strength, from injustice into fairness, from favoritism into impartiality.

As they sit down to consider the South African debacle next week, each WICB member should have set before him a paragraph from an article written last year by Dr. Sam Headley, a Barbadian and specialist in exercise physiology at Springfield College in Massachusetts who was appointed last year to set up the WICB's medical, physical and optical testing programmes.

"Without doubt, cricket is a sport in which skill is of utmost importance. However, in the current international climate, the teams are more evenly matched in this area than at any other time in my memory," Dr Headley wrote.

"The teams that will succeed will be those which pay attention to those other ingredients necessary for success - notably motivation, discipline, mental toughness, tactical astuteness and physical fitness," he went on.

"This is where exercise science can help West Indies cricket. If this area is ignored, I am afraid that our cricket team will fall further behind the others."

Is anybody out there listening?

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