Lara cast as the ticking bomb
By Andrew Ramsey
May 12, 2003
EVEN by his own whirlwind standards, Brian Lara’s arrival at the batting crease during the fourth Test in Antigua unleashed a storm of rarely-seen fury.
By the time he had faced one delivery in the West Indies’ first innings, Lara had flayed a six and been involved in verbal stoushes with opening batsman Matthew Hayden and rival captain Steve Waugh.
The war of words began even before Lara took guard on the second morning of the match.
En route to the middle following the dismissal of opener Devon Smith, Lara appeared incensed following an exchange of words with Hayden and deviated from his path towards the pitch to let Hayden know of his frustration.
The details of what was said remain unclear as neither Hayden nor Waugh was available to speak to the media after play.** But it is likely Lara was heckled over the legitimacy of the mystery illness which afflicted him in Barbados last week, or his decision to bat behind a nightwatchman in the current Test. **
Having carved the first ball he received from Brett Lee over the rope at backward point, Lara then turned his attention to Waugh, who had moved in from his fielding position on the off side to fire more jibes at an obviously agitated Lara.
Facing Jason Gillespie in the next over, Lara flashed and then glided consecutive fours to third man before becoming involved in another exchange of words, this time with the fast bowler.
Boasting as many verbal fights as boundaries by that stage, Lara then caused tensions to escalate further when he flashed outside off stump in Gillespie’s next over but survived the Australians’ prolonged shout for a catch behind.
That incident prompted Waugh to position himself even closer to the batsman, and the pair traded more verbal blows until Lara left his crease and stood toe to toe with the Australian skipper.
It was then that veteran English umpire David Shepherd moved from his position at the bowler’s end to defuse the confrontation. He convinced both opponents to get on with the game, although Lara continued airing his grievances to the umpires at the subsequent drinks break.
No reports were laid, and match referee Mike Procter later commended Shepherd for his handling of the potentially nasty situation, and the skippers for not pushing the bounds of gamesmanship too far.
Shepherd declined to comment on the matter when approached after the day’s play, and the only player made available to shed light on the entire series of events was Lee, who dismissed it as typically tough Test cricket.
“I think he was asking us what we wanted for lunch, the chicken or the beef,” Lee offered when asked to explain the detail of the exchanges.
"Nothing personal is being said out there, it’s purely some hard Test cricket, that’s what it’s all about.
“He (Lara) is under a bit of pressure as are most people in this West Indian side.”
It’s not the first time Lara has kicked up about the Australians’ hard-nosed tactics, which Waugh prefers to call ‘gamesmanship’.
In Perth six years ago, he went public about the verbal barrage heaped upon his young opening batsman Robert Samuels, a move which offended Australian captain Mark Taylor, who believed on-field exchanges should remain on the field.
And in Antigua on Australia’s previous tour, in 1999, Lara breached protocol when he reported Glenn McGrath directly to the match referee for spitting in the direction of West Indies opener Adrian Griffith. McGrath was subsequently fined over the incident.
The danger in upsetting a player of Lara’s sublime talent is that he may be fired into an inspired innings, as looked the case yesterday when he raced to 40 of which 34 came in boundaries (seven) and sixes (one).
But while Lara was incandescent at one end, his team-mates were sadly inept at the other as Ramnaresh Sarwan (24), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1) and Ridley Jacobs (26) gave their wickets away which allowed Australia to maintain a grip despite Lara’s men ace.
Jacobs was the most culpable. Having looked untroubled in his hour-long stay, he simply ambled out of his crease after blocking Lee back down the pitch and failed to beat the bowler’s direct hit as Lee followed through.
That was Lara’s cue to resume hostilities after a subdued hour, but after clubbing three boundaries from the first four balls of an Andy Bichel over, he smashed the fifth like a bullet to Justin Langer at deep mid-off. Bichel has dismissed Lara four times in the series.
Having been whipped into a frenzy by Lara’s heroics, the local fans at the Antigua Recreation Ground cheered ecstatically when the West Indies drew level with Australia’s meagre first-innings total of 240. But by stumps they had once again adopted the downcast countenance most have worn all series as Langer and Hayden deflated the West Indies’ spirits with an unbeaten opening stand of 171, which spanned a three-hour final session.
In the process, the close friends posted their ninth century opening stand (only Mark Taylor and Michael Slater with 10 have done better for Australia).
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6418479%255E2722,00.html
This is a new low for the Australian team - Sledging is okay buy heckling a great batsman like LARA for using a nightwatchman or questioning his illness in last test match is really really LOW and Cheap. It’s insulting and still the shameless Australian Media and the shameless Australian Captain calls it ‘GAMESMANSHIP’ ?? It is a shame and disgrace.