Report: Pressure to remove Lara

THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) are being pressured to remove Brian Lara as captain of the West Indies team for the immediate tour of Australia for the VB Series, according to a report in the Melbourne Age newspaper. With the ongoing dispute over sponsorship contracts between WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) unsettled up to yesterday, and the team’s departure scheduled for December 29, Cricket Australia officials are becoming increasingly concerned. They are hoping to know, one way or the other, following Wednesday’s meeting in Grenada between Prime Minister Keith Mitchell and leaders of the WICB and WIPA.

When the disagreement first surfaced six weeks ago, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland floated the possibility of replacing the West Indies for the series, in the event they fielded an inferior team. But the Age reported that such an option had been eliminated, given that India, the only team without international commitments in January, had ruled itself out of filling the breach. “At the moment, our plan is that everything is going ahead and going ahead on schedule,” Cricket Australia communications manager Peter Young said. The idea of including a second Australian team, Australia “A”, to join Australia and Pakistan in the triangular One-Day tournament as was done nine seasons ago, has been rejected.

Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist said the experiment in the 1994-95 season, when Australia “A” competed  against Australia, England and Zimbabwe, was unsuccessful. “Nothing has been said to us about the possibility of playing Australia ‘A’ this season and, from what I’ve been led to believe about the last time it happened, it was a pretty awkward situation,” Gilchrist said. The Age claimed “separate reports from the Caribbean” suggested that Digicel, the West Indies team’s major sponsor, is pushing for Brian Lara to be removed from the captaincy.

Lara is one of six West Indies players who has a personal endorsement contract with Cable and  Wireless, the former sponsors and Digicel’s fierce competitor in the booming region’s mobile phone market. The paper said Lara would not comment on such reports when contacted but it quoted his brother and manager, Richard Lara, as saying: “I’m not sure (about the reports). That is what I am trying to find out.” WICB chief executive Roger Brathwaite said last week the squad of 14 and the name of the captain could not be released until the impasse with the WIPA was settled.