Lara looks to life after cricket

WEST  Indies cricket superstar Brian Lara has taken the first significant step towards life after his international career is over. After dominating the game for more than 15 years and accumulating  the most coveted batting records in Test cricket, Lara at age 36 still appears to have the hunger and appetite to compete at the highest levels. However, he has given the strongest signal yet that he is prepared to embark on another chapter in his life when the time comes to bid farewell to the sport in which he has brought so much joy and pleasure to millions of fans around the world. Last Saturday, local telecommunications provider TSTT in conjunction with the Pearl and Bunty Lara Foundation hosted a gala function at Lara’s mansion at Knaggs Hill, Port-of-Spain.

The “11204 Benefit” ostensibly was organised to thank the many corporate organisations who had subscribed to the Pearl and Bunty Lara Foundation which assists in charitable causes. However, the main speakers Sir Garry Sobers, Dr Hilary Beckles and Clive Pantin  focused on the other reason for the gala event —  celebrating the achievements of the greatest batsman of the modern era. Pantin, a former Government Education Minister and principal of Fatima College remembered taking in the pint-sized Santa Cruz lad on the pleadings of his father Bunty, a decision he said he never regretted. Pantin, brother of the now deceased  Archibishop of Port-of-Spain Anthony Pantin, said he knows Lara  more than most other people and is saddened by the fact that he is criticised so often.

“Lara has worked long and hard to achieve what he has and it is only jealous and envious people who attack him,” said Pantin to murmurs of approval from the distinguished gathering. He said unknown to anyone  Lara has over the years given away hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable causes and this shows the true worth of the individual putting a lie to the accusation that he is “selfish.” Sir Garry, the Barbadian allrounder regarded as the best to have played the game said that  he “loved Lara like a man who can love a  man and yet remain a man,”—  words spoken to him by another former great West Indies player, fast bowler Wes Hall. He revealed that ever since he saw Lara as a teenager playing in a schools’ cricket  tournament in 1986 on the urging of Charlie Davis, he knew that the Trinidadian was destined for greatness.

Sir Garry said over the years Lara has sought his advice which he has readily offered and can bear testimony to the fact that it was sheer hard work, commitment and a desire to do his best that catapulted  the master batsman into the  realms of greatness. Dr Beckles, a professor at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies in Barbados, is a student of cricket and was described by the Master of Ceremonies Tony Harford as  “a cerebral thinker” who has written several books and scholarly papers on the game in the West Indies and its influence on Caribbean society. The professor said  the present generation is indeed fortunate that Lara has come at this time, a  perilous stage in the region’s development and is a  symbol of what can be achieved  while standing out as a beacon of hope and an example to all.

In cricketing terms Dr Beckles said Lara “has taken the tradition of Sir Frank Worrell, George Headley  and Vivian Richards to its logical conclusion,” a realisation of the promise and potential that each held in their respective eras. He said despite holding the records for the highest scores in Test cricket (400 not out); First Class cricket (501 not out); and the highest aggregate in Tests (11,204 runs), there is still one mountain to climb for the gifted Trinidadian. “Sir Don Bradman has 12 double centuries in Tests and you have seven. It is just five more and  you must get that record also,” Dr Beckles said. Also speaking was Carlos Espinal, Chief Executive Officer of  TSTT who although confessing he did not know too much about cricket was well familiar with the exploits of Lara on the international stage.

Espinal said that Lara is as familiar “as any edifice in Port-of-Spain” and pledged his company’s unending support to him. Lara who took the podium with his adorable daughter Sydney thanked all for attending the function and immediately set the record straight by insisting that the occasion was not about him. He said he wished to thank everyone who had contributed to making him what he is and pledged to do whatever he can to eradicating the ills that plague the nation’s young people. Lara said confrontation will not solve the problems in society and advocated love and understanding among the parties to help in building bridges instead of walls. He singled out his parents Pearl and Bunty for their love and  support and his big sister Agnes for introducing him to the Harvard Cricket Clinic which he attended  every Sunday religiously for more than a decade.

He said Angostura also played a great part in his formative cricket career giving him a job to earn money while playing cricket. Lara also said telecommunications provider Cable and Wireless had played a significant role not only in his career but in West Indies cricket as a primary sponsor for close to two decades. “They  carried the region for so long and now we have a new sponsor so it’s on to greater things,” Lara said. He was also appreciative to all the corporate entities who contributed to the Pearl and Bunty  Lara Foundation and other individuals who played a great role in shaping his character and career. In raising a champagne toast to Lara, Lisa Agard of Cable and Wireless read a tribute to him written by former England captain Michael Atherton after Lara had claimed the record for the most runs in Test cricket late last year in Australia. She ended by saying that Lara is recognised as the greatest batsmen of the modern era but in ten years he will be known as a “great humanitarian.”