Former West Indies captain and World Record Holder for the highest individual Test and First Class scores, Brian Charles Lara, has removed controversial parts of his book – Lara The England Chronicles. The book originally stated that former captain Sir Vivian Richards made “Carl Hooper cry once a week,” demonstrating how tough the former captain was as a leader.
Hooper and Richards have since denounced that part of the book saying it was untrue.
Lara, speaking at his residence in Port-of-Spain Tuesday (September 17), at the launch of the book locally, stated it was not a huge issue. ‘It is so insignificant as far as I am concerned that it is now out of the book,” he remarked.
He said, “It’s fine; it’s my feelings, it’s my opinions, it’s my story. If it’s too delicate for some, it’s fine. I don’t think it has changed the quality of the book, and I wish them well.”
Lara, who holds the record for the highest first class score of 501 runs, also revealed in the book, which chronicles the behind-the-scenes stories with the West Indies and his time with Warwickshire during his County stint, that Richards himself and Sir Garfield Sobers, who was described as the greatest allrounder to play the game, helped him in his career.
He stated that when he saw the stardom reception Viv received in England in 1990, it motivated him to attain those heights.
The book also recorded the assistance he got from Sobers while batting in the nets and told him to “watch the ball in the bowler’s hand and do not take your eyes off of it until it hits your bat.”
Lara, the world batting champion for the highest individual Test score of 400 runs told Guardian Media Sport he would like to see the Test players play more First Class cricket as it will help them the way it helped him.
“I think that playing county cricket as a batter was definitely something that improved my skills and will improve any of our young batter skills,” Lara said.
He continued, “What do we do to get them in? What do we do? Even though our batters may not be fancy, we have to find a way to get them on the international stage. You talk about County Cricket, but there’s also Sheffield Shield; there’s cricket in India; there’s cricket in South Africa. I would love to see them get the experience because I feel that that was a major thing in our success back in the seventies and eighties.”
The ‘Prince of Port-of-Spain’ noted the county experience will complement the experience gained from the first-class cricket in the Caribbean.
“You look at Viv Richards Lloyd, Greenidge, Hooper; all these guys played County Cricket.
And back in the day, when you played five weeks of cricket in the Caribbean, you know, if you started the first week in January, you finished the first week in February, that’s it.
So these guys had an opportunity to go out to England and play for five months, which obviously was something that enhanced the game.”
“Brian Lara the England Chronicles” will be available at bookshops across the country.
