Lara’s appointment as Windies mentor for Zimbabwe series is a bigstep in the right direction for Caribbean Cricket!
Lara’s appointment as Windies mentor: Not always does a new year start on a bright note for the West Indies. But it seems, at least, by the looks of it that 2023 isn’t going to be like any other year.
One wonders, what could be better news at this time than having Brian Lara as the mentor of the team currently touring Zimbabwe?
For the longest time there’s been talk and perhaps even rancour as to why the present-day West Indies team and its administrators never engage the past legends in order to take stock of their cricket.
As a matter of factly, Lara retired full time in 2007 with the other batting great Chanderpaul following post 2015. Both great batsmen, up to this point, had hardly ever been consulted despite one knowing the fact that a world of good could’ve been achieved with their consultation.
In that regard, batting legend Lara’s appointment as the mentor seems from the outside periphery an urgent need to rectify the long list of woes concerning the West Indies cricket team.
The team is emblazoned with a sense of batting inconsistency with no one barring present captain Kraigg Brathwaite and his deputy, Jermaine Blackwood coming to the party in a bid to score long and consistent meaningful scores.
On his part, Brathwaite’s firm and calm presence at the wicket peppered by dogged hundreds, which one had the pleasure to see in 2022, has often lifted the Test unit to a good measure.
But when might the rest of the lot- Roach, Myers, Bonner and Da Silva- come to the party, one’s wondered!
It’s been confirmed that the man described avidly as the Prince of Trinidad will accompany the side for both Test matches due to begin soon next month.
It, lest it is forgotten, is the series where the home side, i.e., hosts Zimbabwe are perhaps on a slight backfoot with the arrival of the news that star talent Sikandar Raza will skip the contests in light of his participation in the cricket league in Dubai, UAE.
Lara’s presence, however, will surely spur the West Indies Test unit to good heights; the team having famously defeated the English when they last toured the Caribbean in 2022.
What Brian Lara brings to the fore in addition to his magnificent and appealing heaps of runs, is a thinking cricketing brain and undoubtedly, that famous instinct for domination using which he champed big teams such as Pakistan, Australia and South Africa back in the day.
The die-hard West Indian fan will, therefore, hope that the current lot can feed on Lara’s cricketing smarts on how to bat for long and bat session upon session thereby instilling a sense of imposition over their opponents.
But how far will Brian succeed in this mission will solely rest on the ability of Kyle Mayers, Roston Chase and Nkrumah Bonner, who barring Brathwaite and Blackwood, form the bedrock of the batting and their talent at staying put for long hours, which is what Test cricket demands.
The rash and inexplicable habit of the West Indians to lose concentration and attempt shots that the coaching manual would otherwise hinder batsmen from playing has far too often cultivated their downfall. Which was evident in the Test series’ debacle against Pakistan and the Proteas when both sides last visited the Caribbean.
So can Lara take stock of just what’s to be corrected and how far will that reflect in the Zimbabwean series’ outcome is a subject of a patient wait, if not speculation.
