da realbet： It isn’t the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) that wouldseem to be in control of cricket in the region of late
Andi Thornhill31-Oct-2001It isn’t the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) that wouldseem to be in control of cricket in the region of late. Itappears to be Brian Lara.He is the first player in the history of West Indies cricketwho has ever had the audacity to dictate the terms of hisavailability to the board. He is more than a prince, he is aking if not by name, by nature and practice.It is important to note that the power he wields comes witha knowledge of who he is and what he is worth. He hasensured that the yardstick cannot only measure his talentbut his human value as well. They have had to deal with theman first and foremost; the cricketing aspect has becomesecondary. He has earned my utmost respect in this regard.Some might argue that it is his perceived financial securitythat reinforces his moral capital to take certain stands butit also takes singlemindedness and courage to pull it off.Lara has both because he knows who he is: not only a playerthat is still capable of being the best batsman in the worldwhen the mood hits him but a man who views himself as anaristocrat and determine to rule his own destiny.No board in the Caribbean has been able to find a strategyto penetrate his solid defence. And there will be none if heremains true to himself and his beliefs.It’s not even a case of a player being indispensible at atime when his team is in transition and knows that his inputis invaluable. It’s simply a matter of respect: man-to-man,face-to-face dialogue.Of course, there was an era when the shoe was on the otherfoot. The board had things in control to keep the players inline, sometimes causing bad blood between players and thosein authority.There is evidence of several of the former Test greatsleaving the arena being dissatisfied with the way they weretreated, especially at the end of their careers.There is no likelihood that this will happen to a BrianLara. He has been large and in charge ever since he forcedthe board to ask him to return to the squad after he leftthe team on the 1995 tour of England. The coup de grace wasthe players revolt he led in London where the team wasintransit to South Africa.His political clout was enhanced and he has used it eversince to put the board in line rather than the other wayround even when there might have been instances to draw theline with him.So Reverend Wes Hall might have missed the point recentlywhen he asked the media to stop pressuring Lara. We can whenthere are fundamental reasons to do so, but the WICBcertainly does not appear as if it can under anycircumstances.More power to King Lara.