‘Captaincy In Cricket’, good reading for Lara

THE EDITOR: I wish to congratulate Mr Brian Lara as the new WI skipper vs Australia. A much more experienced Lara would surely be able to put a halt to the flagging fortunes of West Indies cricket. A more tactical expert than Hooper at the game, it would surely work wonders for the new skipper.

We would now definitely see a spinner on the team, hopefully from Trinidad and Tobago. Vivian Richards’ archaic way of thinking, in his belief that pace is the way to go, should be dumped. I wish to recommend to our skipper the book “Captaincy In Cricket” Reflections- by Fyzul Hassanali. Lara should memorise the author’s thoughts exp-ressed in Chapter two “The Captain — Lig-hthouse Among Pla-yers.” In this chapter the author emphasises the role of leadership, loyalty, communication, consultations and the willingness to compromise. He states “the great captain is one who never misses an opportunity for an advantage; who applies astute measures in every department of the game in order to achieve victory — even when he leads an ordinary combination.

This vital text discusses also, flagging fortunes of West Indian cricket, famous captains, team selection and training, the toss, the role of the umpires, at the crease, on the field, and some historical tit bits. I want to humbly advise our new skipper to keep this text very handy and consult it quite regularly, on and off the field.

MICHAEL MOHAMMED
San Juan