West Indies batting great Brian Lara has sensationally suggested that “gamesmanship” used by great teams of the past is likely to have led to the steep decline of the Caribbean team in subsequent decades.
In a wide-ranging MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s, Lara was at times highly critical of the great Windies teams of the 80s and 90s, insisting that he was at times “embarrassed” by their approach to the game, despite their unquestionable success.
During the address, Lara, the region’s record Test runs scorer, pointed to individual incidents like the 1980 series against New Zealand when Colin Croft barged an umpire and the 1990 series against England when Michael Holding kicked over the stumps.
However, while pointing out the responsibility of great teams to ensure ‘that the integrity of the game is upheld every single time they play,’ he also pointed to questionable series results.
The batting legend referenced the 1988 series against Pakistan where he believes umpiring decisions benefited the team in the form reprieves for Viv Richards and Jeffrey Dujon. He also spoke of the 1990 series against England where the visitors won the first Test in Jamaica and seemed on course for a win in Trinidad after rain. However, time-wasting tactics by the Windies, including the ground staff, eventually led to a draw. The hosts went on to win the series in Antigua.
“As a West Indian, I was truly embarrassed. As a young cricketer who looked up to a lot of the individuals in the team, it was one of the saddest moments in the world. For me, I felt the West Indies being the best team in the world needed to play cricket in a different way,” Lara said of the series.
The Trinidad and Tobago native believes the game being played in that manner hid some of the issues that the team faced at the time, which could have been addressed earlier had it lost fair and square.
“People talk about the Tests series we lost in 1995 as the time we began to spiral,” Lara said.
“I felt we started to spiral years before that when the great players were playing,” he added.
“And if Pakistan or England got what they deserved in 1988 and 1990, I feel the West Indies officials would have taken a different look into what to do to save West Indies cricket at a time we had senior players who could have guided the younger players to have ensured we were on the right footing. But that didn’t happen.” (SportsMax)
