King: Lara to be treated ‘uniquely’

MELBOURNE: New coach Bennett King says he respects Brian Lara’s experience and status within cricket and will accept a unique training regime for the star West Indies batsman. Lara has played 112 Test matches and 244 limited-overs internationals and is among the highest-profile players in the sport. He holds the world record for the highest individual Test innings with his unbeaten 400 against England last year. He has also scored the highest score in the First Class game (501 not out). The Australian who recently became the first foreigner to coach the West Indies said he didn’t think there’d be any problems if his star batsman was well-prepared for matches.

“We’ve got to be mindful of his longevity in the game and how we manage him so we get the best out of Brian for as long as he wants to play,” King said yesterday after arriving in Melbourne  with a 14-man West Indies squad for the tri-nations series against Australia and Pakistan. “Some people need to be treated differently and sometimes... You need to also be adaptable to some of their needs and the players around them and the (other) players need to understand that too.” Lara has probably “hit 10 million cricket balls in his career as it is, whereas a 20-year-old probably hit about 200,000 so it’s not going to take Brian that long to get into pretty good shape.” The West Indies plays three warm-up matches, one against state side Victoria and two against a strong Australia “A” team, before the tri-nations series begins on January 14 in Melbourne. (AP)