It's the easiest way to dismiss a veteran and an age-old insult that hurts them the most. “He has gone senile!” These four words often offend the not-so-young than any meanest four-letter word. As one walks out of post-defeat press briefing by Brian Lara, there is a bunch of men in maroon shirts, maybe much older than the West Indian captain, eager to know the official reason for the humiliation against Sri Lanka. One conveys how Lara said he was an “eternal optimist” who will now spend the long break — nine days before their next World Cup game — cheering for certain teams that might help them sneak into the semis. With the 113-run defeat still fresh in their minds and after a day spent watching the money dished out to buy the exorbitantly priced ticket going down the drain, Lara’s optimism fails to cut much ice with the depressed fans. That’s when they talk about the senility and, not stopping at that, another sharp tongue lashes out: “He needs to take his medication on time”. Caustic comments, sarcastic remarks, dark humour and a threadbare discussion — is the West Indian way of dealing with defeats. Till the morning after the defeat, there have been no reports of house burning, torching of effigies, protest processions or a debate in parliament. But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any fan frenzy here. It had started at the stadium when Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan were at the crease and the run-rate was climbing. “Take your time, there are still four more days to play,” said someone from the 8-drinks-free-for-$80-party stand. “Will come tomorrow with my son and you guys will still be batting,” added another. Chanderpaul with his late charge redeemed himself while the other Guyanese boy Sarwan was excused as he “at least tried” but Lara has no respite from taxi drivers, women at restaurant counters or the couple who seemed to drown their sorrow in the large bottle at Hotel Pegasus’ trendy bar. They question his decision to bowl first, the batting shuffle, his reflexes and even the expression on his face. Lara should go, they advocate and add how a young team should be groomed with Chanderpaul and Sarwan at the helm. Being in Guyana one understands the drift and smells an agenda behind the new promotion and relegation plan.But the locals insist that this isn’t about any regional bias. Newspapers are filled with post-mortems where the theme is about uninspiring leadership, the docile body language of the team and that one moment which many see as a sure sign of Lara’s ageing body not quite fit to play the one-dayers. It was during the mid-overs when Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya seemed unbeatable that Lara let a cover drive pass through him as he didn’t quite bend to stop the ball. Chanderpaul on the fence dived full length to stop the boundary. Later when Lara came to bat, his footwork was suspect as he ended up being stranded outside the crease. When Lara was asked about his future as captain, he said how he wasn’t willing to comment on the issue as the World Cup was his focus right now. Though he did say a few things about his team being off the boil on the field. “We have played four games in 10 days on sandy grounds. All this does take a toll on oneself,” he said. Lara has a point as the schedule hasn’t been kind to them. They started the Super Eights with a game against Australia, played New Zealand without any break and flew over to Guyana to play Sri Lanka — all in the space of just six days. At the end of it Lara has three losses, a big headache and also the call for his head. This time around at the World Cup, supposed to be the last for several greats, such scenarios were certainly on the cards. Before the mega event started everyone saw this as a grand farewell for the game’s several ageing super stars, but little did they realise that only one would get that honour now. Inzamam-ul Haq, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara seem to have been ticked off that list. Now it remains to be seen if Sanath Jayasuriya and Glenn McGrath will survive this cruel survivor test. Only one among all these 35-plus stars wouldn’t have to hear those insensitive four words: He has gone senile! ScoreboardSri Lanka: U Tharanga b Powell 8, S Jayasuriya b Powell 115, K Sangakkara c Ramdin b Bradshaw 7, M Jayawardene b Bravo 82, C Silva c Lara b Sarwan 23, T Dilshan not out 39, R Arnold not out 4Extras (lb7, w13, nb5): 25; Total (For 5 wkts, 50 overs): 303Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-35, 3-218, 4-251, 5-268Bowling: Jerome Taylor 8-1-32-0, Daren Powell 10-1-37-2, Ian Bradshaw 10-0-67-1, Dwayne Smith 3-0-23-0, Chris Gayle 9-0-61-0, Dwayne Bravo 7-0-59-1, Ramnaresh Sarwan 3-0-17-1West Indies: C Gayle c Fernando b Malinga 10, D Bravo b Vaas 21, S Chanderpaul b Malinga 76, B Lara st Sangakkara b Vaas 2, R Sarwan st Sangakkara b Jayasuriya 44, M Samuels lbw Muralitharan 3, D Smith run out (Malinga) 0, D Ramdin c Vaas b Jayasuriya 2, I Bradshaw not out 6, J Taylor lbw Muralitharan 13, D Powell b Jayasuriya 2Extras (lb1, w8, nb2): 11; Total (all out, 44.3 overs): 190Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-40, 3-42, 4-134, 5-147, 6-148, 7-158, 8-173, 9-187Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 8-1-19-2, Lasith Malinga 5-0-34-2, Dilhara Fernando 7-3-19-0, Tillekaratne Dilshan 4-0-11-0, Russel Arnold 3-0-9-0, Muttiah Muralitharan 9-0-59-2, Sanath Jayasuriya 8.3-0-38-3Man of the Match: Sanath Jayasuriya
