Lara might have been sacked

To the average by-stander, Lara’s timing may be viewed as a reaction to the recent naming of the West Indies management team comprising Roger Harper as coach, Jeffrey Dujon as assistant coach, with interim coach Richards being overlooked, the Observed reported.

The newspaper added, in light of Sir Viv’s fate, and remembering that Lara spoke highly of the master blaster as coach during the recent ill-fated tour of New Zealand, sources said Lara got wind of the plans to give him the boot.

Lara resigned from the post of West Indies captain on Thursday. He became the third international captain this month and second this week to resign, following Pakistan’s Wasim Akram and India’s Sachin Tendulkar.

Lara had conveyed his decision to resign to Alloy Lequay, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board on Tuesday.

Alloy Lequay, the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, revealed, however, Lara resigned as captain from the West Indies team because of too much pressure on him to be the leader and the best performer.

“I think the whole situation with Lara’s captaincy over the past two years has really been one of too much pressure on him,” Lequay said on Friday.

“He was not only called to lead, but he had to perform with a team that is sub-standard and the pressures and the expectations on him were just too much for him to bear and he did not have that kind of resilience. In fact, if Lara batted well, the team won and when he did not do well, the team lost. It is this kind of pressure that he was under,” Lequay said.

Lequay said Lara, whom he met on Tuesday during a reception for Britain’s Prince Charles, had confided to him that he was considering resigning as captain of the team and he tried to persuade him not to throw in the hat at this time.

“His resignation really caught me by surprise because I thought he would have done this maybe after the England tour in June. I didn’t think for a minute that he was considering resigning this week,” Lequay said.

Meanwhile, Lara’s resignation came as no surprise to all-time great Sir Garfield Sobers.

Sobers, the West Indies cricket legend of the 1960s and 1970s who has a close relationship with Lara, had long expected Lara to stand down, saying the gifted left-hander did not garner the kind of support he needed to effectively do the job.

“Brian is a far superior captain to whoever they think they are going to put there,” Sir Garfield said.

“I think he should have been given a freer hand at his job and I am not surprised to learn of his retirement. So many things have been said about his captaincy which I thought were false.”

Sobers, who fondly recalls the first time he saw Lara bat in the annual schoolboy competition which bears his name in his native Barbados, believes Lara still has the knowledge and ability to lead the West Indies.