Cricket without Lara in the past decade?
By: Alvin Corneal (T&T Guardian).
One did not have to be a cricket lover to know the achievements of Brian Lara’s cricket career over the past 15 years. This statement is not only true in the Caribbean, but in almost every country and cricketing corner in the world, even the few where cricket is not played competitively.
Having travelled to a number of countries where T&T did not ring a bell, but Brian Lara’s name brought a level of acceptance which could only have been experienced by universal legends like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods or Muhammad Ali. So when a group of cricket enthusiasts or experts sit to select a team of the past decade, one would expect that Brian Charles Lara will have topped the list of contenders.
The decision to omit him from the list will not make a difference to those who know better, but it will cause the world to make a judgment on the persons who sat together with the statistical details of the great game, studied them carefully (we hope), and were able to find eleven persons who deserve a place in the “team of the decade” ahead of the King of Port of Spain.
It is a bitter pill to swallow for the many fans like myself, who enjoyed the memorable cricketing moments of this highly-gifted batsman, to understand the rationale behind his omission.
So, I decided to break down the criteria for the selection process: Was it the fact that he did not play in the era in which the judges were searching? No! His career could be from 1994 to 2008. Is it from the record books ? Never! Never! Never! Unless of course they were reading the outdated manuals.
Did any of this group sit quietly and think of the players who have impacted heavily on the cricket world during that period ? Seemingly not, because they could not possibly have ignored the double record holder. This has left me with the belief that the choice of the team was not based upon cricket alone, but maybe some far fetched criteria which only a distraught mind could unearth, before making such an outrageous judgment.
I wonder if the selection panel was made up of names like Glen Mcgrath, Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkhar, Ricky Pontin, Adam Gilchrist and Muralitharan, whether or not the name Lara would have been omitted? I recall the times when each of these great players indicated that Brian Lara was the best batsman against whom they have played in their careers.
And if one needs to add some West Indian flavour to the panel, call the current WI team manager Joel Garner, who will have had an early look at the genius on his debut. I am deliberately bypassing jealousy and insularity as reasons for his omission, if only because I hope that the game has grown above these frivialities.
I wonder what the Prime Minister of Australia must be saying about that decision, seeing that he had gone through all the red tapes in his Parliament to honour Lara with his country’s highest award. Personally, I view this as an insult to Brian and should be challenged by the WICB and especially, WIPA who always claim that they have the players interest at heart.
This is a time to hear their voices loud and clear. They will be guilty of endorsing this selection without Lara’s name on it. Yes, it may not make a difference to the panel, but it will let them know how little respect we have for their decision to omit the legendary batsman.
I have absolute regard for the selected players and they all would have been more than worthy of the selection, if Lara was among them. Without him, the team cannot be dubbed , “the team of the decade”.
