Lara passes test of character

[Arnab]

I like this article, says a lot of things about a part of Lara I like very much.

Lara passes test of character
By Robert Craddock
November 5, 2005

BRIAN Lara has been called many things in his career but you have to admire his sense of sportsmanship.

It is the least publicised but one of the most endearing traits about this fascinating man who surely gets the worst umpiring deal in cricket.

Lara walks when he is out yet gets some absolute stinkers when he doesn't which means that when his career ends balance of good and bad luck will weigh heavily against him.

No player in the modern game - not even Sachin Tendulkar - has been as spectacularly sawn off so many times against Australia by dreadful umpiring decisions.

A decade ago in Barbados Lara cut a ball to Steve Waugh in the gully and was given out caught despite the fact the ball clearly hit the ground. And at the Gabba alone he has had three shockers.

Way back in 1992 he was famously given out stumped by Ian Healy when the keeper failed to glove the ball.

Last year here in a one-day game he was given out caught behind to a ball he did not hit. And yesterday he was incorrectly given out lbw by umpire Ian Howell. It looked as if he hit the ball but even if he didn't it was missing leg-stump.

What made it a particularly bad decision was that the umpire's radar should have been up because Lee was delivering the ball from around the wicket and almost a metre wide of the stump.

Getting an lbw decision from the point of delivery would have been like threading a needle. The decision was pure guesswork. But when the umpire's finger went up Lara looked down for a few painful seconds and walked off without complaint.

There was no fierce glare at the umpire, no bat swinging, no sign of disgust. Over the years Lara has been branded a night owl, a poor trainer, a complex character, an occasionally divisive force, and those close to the team say most of the accusations are true.

But, like most West Indians, he has a fabulous appreciation of the way the game is played.

Never has he publicly complained about the series of dodgy calls and, when you think of the pressure riding on his every move, that is some achievement.

When it was pointed out to him by an Australian journalist last summer that he had a run of dreadful decisions against Australia he said: "I'm not saying anything ... you write what you like."

Yesterday, he was warming up nicely for something special. He looked nervous early - he often does now - and Glenn McGrath beat him outside off-stump with some centimetre perfect leg-cutters.

But he survived and a brutal on-drive six off Shane Warne, who again bowled exceptionally well, was the sign of a man starting to find form.

Lara may still be carrying a few excess kilograms but the West Indies camp maintains he remains one of their fittest players.

The Queensland side watched him huff and puff his way through a post-match warm-down session after the game at Border Field last week and, as they sipped beers, leaning on the fence, some of the senior players playfully taunted him with lines like "the beers are cold Brian ... would you like one?"

He was too busy puffing to reply.

[aosaif]

he;s the man

[sadi]

One of the most entertaining batsman I have ever seen. Love to see him bat.

[cricket_pagol]

thanks for the article

[thebest]

It is nothing new in Australia. Remember the lbw of Tendulakor of a bouncer. Always one of the best batsman of opponent would be victim of bad umpiring. Not the other way. But Lara is the last of the mohicans. An ameture in the form of a professional. I adore him for this. To him, It is not cricket is the ultimate insult. So he always respect opposition and umpires how bad they are towards him. I never saw him the other way round. The ultimate sportsman. The one who comes close is Gilly.