Lara set on new role - Howard
Guyana Chronicle
January 4, 2005
MELBOURNE, Australia - West Indies team manager Tony Howard says that captain Brian Lara's role in the regional team has changed and the batting prodigy is now focused on developing younger players and building a legacy.
The 35-year-old Lara arrived in Melbourne on Sunday with the 14-member West Indies team to contest the VB Triangular Limited Overs series that involves hosts Australia and Pakistan.
Howard noted that even though the Trinidadian's batting still had high individual importance, there were also other team-oriented goals to which Lara devoted his energies.
"I think Brian is batting reasonably well," Howard told the Melbourne Age newspaper yesterday.
"I think that Brian has worked hard at his game, he understands his role and Brian's main focus now is to leave a legacy with his cricket."
He added: "And it will come through, I believe, helping the youngsters get to their full potential as opposed to anything Brian does for himself."
Lara is one of the contemporary game's most celebrated players.
In 112 Tests, he has garnered 10 094 runs at an average of 52.84 while in 244 One-Day Internationals, he has slammed 8 921 runs at 42.27 per innings.
In the past however, some of Lara's actions off the field grabbed him just as many headlines as his batting exploits. He has been accused of indiscipline and his cavalier, celebrity lifestyle had often been identified as interfering with his cricket.
With his recent return to the captaincy role, Lara has seemingly changed his outlook on the game and has been more keen to help the younger players in the team in a bid to return West Indies cricket to the pinnacle of world cricket.
"I don't know whether it is mellowing," Howard ventured.
"Like everybody else, as you get older, you get a bit more mature and certainly some of the things that might have irritated you when you were 20 probably wouldn't irritate you now at 30."
He added: "Everybody has to understand that they have a role to play and it's not about an individual anymore, it's about the West Indies team trying to achieve the heights that we once had before."