Lara back at the helm

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Double world batting record holder Brian Lara has been reappointed West Indies captain for the Cable & Wireless home series against Australia and Sri Lanka.

Lara, who previously held the captaincy during 1998 and 1999, replaces Carl Hooper, and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced other major appointments today including Australian Bennett King becoming the first ever foreign coach of the West Indies cricket team. The WICB named Ramnaresh Sarwan as vice-captain to Lara, and Gus Logie as King’s coaching assistant, while retaining Ricky Skerritt as team manager and formally appointing Roger Brathwaite as the board’s Chief Executive Officer. In the recent World Cup where the Hooper-led West Indies disappointingly exited at the first round stage, Lara was the most prolific scorer — with 248 runs — for the West Indies’ in its failed attempt at the 2003 World Cup.

The selection committee recommended the 33-year-old Lara for the job and the WICB ratified it at a board meeting on Sunday. After two years in the job, a dejected Lara resigned as West Indies captain at the start of the 2000 season following humiliating losses on tour of New Zealand where they were beaten 2-0 in the Test series and 5-0 in the one-dayers. The world Test (375) and first-class (501) batting record holder had said subsequently that he was not interested in the team’s captaincy, but has now reversed that position. King gets the coaching appointment after Roger Harper did not seek to renew his contract, but will not be available immediately and Logie will assume coaching duties for the Cable & Wireless series starting with the first Test against Australia on April 10 in Guyana.

Sarwan, a rising batting star in the side and leader in the team’s batting averages at the World Cup, will be Lara’s deputy in a move WICB President Reverend Wes Hall described as a “developmental plan”. The WICB accepted its appointment committee’s recommendation to retain Skerritt as team manager, renewing a previous — three-year — contract that ended after the World Cup. Brathwaite, the board’s Chief Marketing Executive, who had been acting as board’s Chief Executive Officer after Gregory Shillingford’s departure late last year, formally takes the top spot.