Brian Lara lashes out on West Indies players, asks the question whether ‘Do they really want to play for WI?’
Do they really want to play for WI?’ – Brian Lara asks players to ‘find a way’.
Brian Lara, a former captain of the West Indies, cited a lack of funding and technology as reasons for the team’s recent struggles, but he also urged the players to be more passionate in order to compete more effectively.
Test captain Roston Chase brought attention to the ongoing “struggle for finances” and “infrastructure problems” in the Caribbean following the West Indies’ loss to India in the opening Test in Ahmedabad. Lara and Chase are both members of Cricket West Indies’ cricket strategy and officiating committee, which discussed this.
“If you want to get things done, you have to have the capital to do it. So that is a major part,” Lara said on the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards in Mumbai on Tuesday. “But at the same time, I would like to ask Roston Chase and the other guys to… do they have the cricket at heart? Do they really want to play for West Indies? And that is the most important thing because you would find a way.
“I mean we did not have better facilities 30-40 years ago. Viv Richards didn’t bat on any better practice pitches or anything. We had to do the same thing, the same grind; but the passion was different. The passion to play for West Indies was different. So I urge the young players to realise that this is a wonderful opportunity. And I am almost sure that every single one of their parents would have had in the back of their mind, their son playing for the West Indies, their son doing well for the West Indies because it meant a lot back in those days.
“So I agree with [Chase on West Indies’ struggles for finances], but I still believe there is an onus on each young player to create that love and desire to play for West Indies.”
“I can’t blame any single player for wanting to pursue cricket as a career outside of the West Indies – because the disparity in what’s happening, playing five or six franchise leagues, compared to playing for the West Indies, is different [in monetary terms],” Lara said. “And you have to have empathy with that player. But you also have to feel that what can we do at home to make sure that that player, or future players, understand that playing for the West Indies is also very important.
“The IPL has carved out a period of time where it’s exclusive to the IPL. But there’s six or seven different leagues that’s popping up around the world, and everybody’s wanting to do it. So I think the onus is on Cricket West Indies to find a way to create, unify the efforts of the young players who want to go out, but also have them playing for us.
“And a series against India, we want to play good cricket against the best team in the world. So you want your best players out there. You don’t want your best players in America or somewhere else around the world.”