wolf man why do you say this? was viv richards or greenidge any more selfish than lara.that great west indies side also had problems that they faced, as during laras career there were times that they also showed indiscipline.the point is the poor performance of the west indies is being heaped upon one mans head this is not right.micheal jordan a great team? player has physically beaten up stave kerrduring training and berated his team mates to the press.humans are dynamic and teams are dynamic there is a false perception that a team is a stable entitity this often is not so and winning teams have had their problems.i honestly believe that for most of his career lara has given his best for west indies cricket .do people know that there have been times on tour when walsh and ambrose have refused to play in first class games, yet they are considered disciplined heros.garfield sobers in his youth also displayed human frailties that can be termed selfish or in disciplined.i can name champion sporting teams in any number of sports that have internal problems.athletes are trained to perform under adverse circumstances.dwight yorke and latapy are hailed on this site as heros do you think either of these men are more committed to their cause than lara is to his.this should not be a time for lara bashing but rather a time for us to be sensible in our assessment of the problems of west indies cricket and i am not hearing many people talking about these things. kareem abdul jabaar and majic jonson disliked and did not speak to each other yet lakers built a sporting dynasty based upon these two men because they had sound systems in place and they were trained to peform.
Generally I do not enter into discussions like this simply because we are so blinded by the concept of stardom, and add to that here our happiness that Lara is a Trinbagonian, that any opinion other than Lara is brilliant and beyond reproach is considered a bad thing. I appreciate your measured response (people usually start cussin first) and so I will answer.
The question asked, quite specifically, about Lara and so that is who I discussed. It didn't ask about Jordan, Yorke or Latapy and the latter two I won't discuss for similar reasons as to why I try to stay away from Lara discussions. What I did say was that Lara must take responsibility for his role in where the team is now. That is all a part of being a leader, which we all know he did his best (and his worst) to become. I did not say that our performances are all his fault simply because there are many other contributing factors which I have mentioned any opportunity I can in threads on this site gone by.
You mention the Lakers and they having systems in place. What system has Lara adherred to for the Windies to do well? How many camps has he missed? How often has he played for T&T? Of course all teams have problems and guys argue and fight, but you are using those examples of normal group behavior and ignoring the rules and systems that are in place that have helped guide these teams to success. Jordan would arrive to Bulls matches, when they are on the road, in the team bus.
We have been, and continue to be, blind to Lara's faults. We hide behind phrases like "human frailties" and "X or Y did the same thing", but in the end all that has happened is that the super star has been allowed be set poor examples for the younger players on the team and as I said before he must lie in the bed that he made for himself.
Is it his fault that we are not going to win the World Cup? No. Should these former players be attacking him so publicly, especially with the important match against South Africa still to be played (at the time)? Probably not. Would removing him as captain solve our problems immediately? I doubt it. That said, the less we excuse him his obvious short comings and have him accept the consequences of his actions, the better for our cricket and for him as an individual.
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