Lara: My hands are tied!
Garth Wattley Jamaica
Tuesday, July 4th 2006
Brian Lara
"These little inefficiencies definitely (are) not becoming of a team, or a board or an association that wants to move forward."
It was hard to determine what upset Brian Lara more-his stated isolation over team selection or the state of the pitches his West Indies side had to play on in the just-concluded four-match Digicel Test Series against India which ended at Sabina Park on Sunday.
Rahul Dravid's Indians won the decider at Sabina by 48 runs on a strip Lara described as "not worthy for such an important Test match.
"It seems like it was totally prepared for the Indians."
But when he faced the media following only the Windies' second-ever loss of a home rubber to India, Lara did not confine his frustration to the playing surfaces. He went into the selection room, too.
Declaring first that he only discovered "a couple days ago"-a day before the start of the final Test-he had been ratified as a selector since May 28, Lara said: "There's a meeting coming up in a couple weeks and, depending on the selectors, I'll definitely revisit my decision to captain the West Indies."
Lara would not be drawn on exactly whose reappointment or omission of the trio of convenor Joey Carew, Gordon Greenidge and Clyde Butts would determine his next move. And he said he did not know whether the selectors, coach Bennett King included, were aware he was supposed to be part of the mix.
But he did have plenty to say about the teams he was given throughout the series.
He began: "I had seven batsmen for the first couple Test matches, I played six, yet I was given eight for the last two Test matches. I don't know how you work that one out. I would like to see Morton out there if I was playing an extra batter, but it's unfortunate. That was a puzzle by itself."
Throughout the series Lara publicly stated his dissatisfaction with the teams he was getting.
However, back in April, when West Indies Cricket Board president Ken Gordon announced his reappointment for a third time, Lara had different expectations.
"I've been out of the job for approximately a year. But before that, I did have a say in selection My opinion has always been asked and I have seen on occasions, whatever input I've made, come to fruition. I expect the same sort of friendly atmosphere."
The atmosphere has evidently got chilly for Lara.
"I have to accept what happens," he said Sunday. "I've made a couple phone calls, and I'm totally blanked on certain situations I made calls when I knew things that I needed. I needed certain individuals out there and it was still left up to the selectors."Â Â
And the skipper insisted: " I feel that if we had a couple different faces, I think the series would have gone in a different direction."
So was this series lost in the selection room and in pitch preparation?
His response: "I am proud of the players that we didn't lose the series 3-0...I think that we played very good cricket and there is something that we can take out of this series moving forward. As I said, these conditions favour the opposition."
And asked also whether his third stint was proving to be more difficult than his previous two, Lara responded: "It was always tough. I don't know what they see me as but it's always been tough and I've always had my fights. But on those occasions, I've always been in the selection room.
"I know how to maneuver myself and manipulate things to get what I want But now, standing there being given a team and hearing David Mohammed is not coming or you not getting this, this is your squad, it shows a situation where my hands are tied behind my back." jefferz can u read de last line once more, if you need me tuh translate of if you cannot read, juss ask for assistance
