He's a man who has seen it all and also done it all. He's been a batsman over the years, for whom record-breaking is not necessarily the most difficult thing on earth. A man, who exemplifies the passion carribean cricket is all about and can be aptly called "The Sole Voice of the Carribean" in their current era of decline. The man in question is none other than a Brian Charles Lara. Its been nothing short of a visual treat sitting at home and watching some of the innings he's played recently, but unfortunately to no avail.
Brian Lara is just knocking on the doors of yet another record - something ideally he would not like to associate with - "Maximum appearence in lost Test matches". If Pakistan do lose to the Windies in this first test, Lara pips Alec Stewart for this rather unwarrented honour - having involved himself in 54 defeats. But do they in anyway reflect the type of cricket the great man plays ? Yes. West Indies have over the last five years relied too heavily on Brian Lara and this is clearly reflecting in their performances these days. Apart from Lara giving his best with individual scores as bulky as more than 75% of the team score, it only goes to show the levels of responsibility the other batsmen take as compared to him. His recent centuries against South Africa and Pakistan respectively of 176, 196 and 130 (yesterday) have come at situations, from where West Indies could have slipped to shambles. These days, where his rescue acts have restored some respectability in terms of the scores, the ultimate tribute (winning the game) is something that has evaded him and evaded continuously. As for stats, West Indies have lost the last 10 matches, when Lara has played and the only Test they won was against Bangladesh at Kingston, where he scored 120. An unfortunate way to pay respect to the man who has epitomized the spirit of the game in the Carribean.
With age not on his side, Lara's contributions have only gotten meaningful as far as his stats are concerned. Its highly remarkable that a side loses due to its impotent set of bowlers despite the great man mauling the opposition bowlers. His performances during the hay-days of The Walsh-Ambrose partnership had a lot of worth - when West Indies played nothing short of supreme cricket. But, these moments of truth had to come one day. West Indies cricket is going through a trough which in more ways than one will be a Herculian task to recover from. And with Lara's days in International Cricket numbered (mostly till 2007 WC), it will only be the Carribean passion and love for the game that will guide them through to glory (if that can ever happen). Lara has been their saviour, a talisman to his own credit but a man who has seen both aspects of cricket - days of dominance through his performances and currently more days of anguish as he mourns the dormancy and decline that West Indies shows, even if he performs.
To end it all, Lara will of course be considered an all-time Great and rightly deserves to be, but sadly to his credit - West Indies have not been able to pay the right kind of tributes to a large pair of shoes, that can never ever be filled in the future.
His recent knock of 130 was one of the best counter-attacks I have seen since a long time. His 196 also comes close, but the way he took toll of the Pakistani bowling only re-iterates his excellence and greatness and the manner in which he shows no mercy to the bowlers. All I can say with completeness is the fact that while Lara continues to cash in and pull his side from possible and probable collapses, its time for the Windies to realize his importance and play with the spirit the man has been all through his life.
Brian Lara is just knocking on the doors of yet another record - something ideally he would not like to associate with - "Maximum appearence in lost Test matches". If Pakistan do lose to the Windies in this first test, Lara pips Alec Stewart for this rather unwarrented honour - having involved himself in 54 defeats. But do they in anyway reflect the type of cricket the great man plays ? Yes. West Indies have over the last five years relied too heavily on Brian Lara and this is clearly reflecting in their performances these days. Apart from Lara giving his best with individual scores as bulky as more than 75% of the team score, it only goes to show the levels of responsibility the other batsmen take as compared to him. His recent centuries against South Africa and Pakistan respectively of 176, 196 and 130 (yesterday) have come at situations, from where West Indies could have slipped to shambles. These days, where his rescue acts have restored some respectability in terms of the scores, the ultimate tribute (winning the game) is something that has evaded him and evaded continuously. As for stats, West Indies have lost the last 10 matches, when Lara has played and the only Test they won was against Bangladesh at Kingston, where he scored 120. An unfortunate way to pay respect to the man who has epitomized the spirit of the game in the Carribean.
With age not on his side, Lara's contributions have only gotten meaningful as far as his stats are concerned. Its highly remarkable that a side loses due to its impotent set of bowlers despite the great man mauling the opposition bowlers. His performances during the hay-days of The Walsh-Ambrose partnership had a lot of worth - when West Indies played nothing short of supreme cricket. But, these moments of truth had to come one day. West Indies cricket is going through a trough which in more ways than one will be a Herculian task to recover from. And with Lara's days in International Cricket numbered (mostly till 2007 WC), it will only be the Carribean passion and love for the game that will guide them through to glory (if that can ever happen). Lara has been their saviour, a talisman to his own credit but a man who has seen both aspects of cricket - days of dominance through his performances and currently more days of anguish as he mourns the dormancy and decline that West Indies shows, even if he performs.
To end it all, Lara will of course be considered an all-time Great and rightly deserves to be, but sadly to his credit - West Indies have not been able to pay the right kind of tributes to a large pair of shoes, that can never ever be filled in the future.
His recent knock of 130 was one of the best counter-attacks I have seen since a long time. His 196 also comes close, but the way he took toll of the Pakistani bowling only re-iterates his excellence and greatness and the manner in which he shows no mercy to the bowlers. All I can say with completeness is the fact that while Lara continues to cash in and pull his side from possible and probable collapses, its time for the Windies to realize his importance and play with the spirit the man has been all through his life.
No comments:
Post a Comment