Coaching unrelated to brilliance of play

THE EDITOR: Hail Lara! Congratulations! To lift himself up from despair, despondency and disappointment to attain the highest prize in his profession is the greatest achievement anyone can attain. It would be fitting to rename the Piarco Airport the “Brian C Lara International Airport” and the savannah the “Brian C Lara Park.” This fantastic achievement can obtain its true merit when the several attributes of Lara’s innings are transformed into watchwords of the Caribbean Community. Discipline, pa-tience, endurance, mental and physical fitness, judgment and aptitude were essential ingredients in the formation of such an innings. It was unfortunate that the team did not respond immediately to the captain’s example.

In a total of 751 there were 16 extras but in a total of 285 there were 32 extras and five chances and in the total of 422 there were 30 extras.  Anyone could bowl a no ball in his lifetime. A quick bowler to bowl two in a game is unacceptable but never in the case of a slow bowler. Coaches fail to realise that what is practised in the nets is repeated on the field of play and also that a batsman cannot think of moving his foot to the pitch of a ball coming at 90 mph. This must be an automatic recall action. With the appointment of Darren Holder as Coaching manager of the WICB let us hope that the local coaches will assist in a wholehearted manner and Desmond Haynes and other ex-Test players enjoy their retirement unless they have gone through some training in coaching.

Just as great players have “an inborn sense of timing and balance and know by instinct how to cope with any situation in a flash” so too there are coaches with “special flair for giving instructions and stirring up enthusiasm.” Coaching is a profession and often unrelated to brilliance in the field of play. Let us all hope that Brian Lara’s monumental achievement will be the catalyst for the transformation in West Indian Cricket.

WILLIAM A
DALTON-BROWN
Port-of-Spain