'Blame it on Brian'
Guyana Chronicle
April 3, 2007
(Barbados Nation) ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN there is collective despair after West Indies' huge defeat against Sri Lanka Sunday.
Here in Barbados some fans called for the head of captain Brian Lara who led the team to their third straight loss in the World Cup.
As the team slipped to a 113-run defeat at Providence in Guyana,
<
it severely dented West Indies' World Cup semifinal hopes.
A third Super 8 loss in a row means the home boys – with only two points – have only a mathematical chance of reaching the semis.
Lara's team have to win all three remaining matches against South Africa, Bangladesh and England and hope other results go in their favour.
The DAILY NATION hit the street to hear the tales of woe.
Timothy Daniel came out shooting straight from the hip and said: "We have to get rid of Lara. He looks lost . . . . He looks rusty.
"He is not striking the ball like before and I just don't like the way he's looking at the crease.
Now, our World Cup is dead . . . . It is over."
During Sunday’s huge defeat, the West Indies players looked flat on the field. This observation came from Lindon Albert.
"Everything said defeat, and I don't see them winning any of the remaining matches,"
he said. "Lara should go, he should retire from the game. He is a great batsman but his leadership is weak."
Coleridge Forde, who has been watching the West Indies for over
five decades, slammed Lara, the team, the administration and just about everything else.
"We need a new skipper. I would drop Lara as captain and give the job to [Ramnaresh] Sarwan," said Forde. "Lara is not getting it right . . . . He has not been getting it right for a while now. He needs to take a rest.
"We can't win the World Cup playing like this and a lot of things need to change. I would start from the top with the board [West Indies Cricket Board] and work all the way down. We need a lot of work."
Patricia Williams came to Lara's defence, however, and said the champion left-hander was copping too much flak.
She said "a good man is as good as his bad team" and the embattled Lara deserved support rather than condemnation, as he struggled to pull together the unit in these troubled times.
"One man can't cause a team to lose a whole match and a whole World Cup. When he is doing well we praise him, and now we're trying to pull him down. That's not fair. I'm sticking with Lara."
What hurt most fans was the meek surrender in the Super 8. They were flogged for 322 against Australia and lost by 103 runs. New Zealand knocked them over for 177 and won by seven wickets, while yesterday Sri Lanka smashed 303 for six in the huge win.
Florence Robinson called for a new game plan. Although she is
a true diehard fan, she said she never expected the Windies to win the World Cup.
"One day they're good, the next they're bad. I just can't understand these boys. In the days before, the old boys got less money and we got more runs. Nowadays they get more money and we get less runs," Robinson said.
"You can't let people come in your own backyard and beat you like this. I don't know know what will happen next."
Teenager Ronel Hunte tuned out in the middle overs as West Indies batsmen failed to come
to grips with the Sri Lanka bowlers.
"We are going from bad to worse. We need a better bowling attack, and what is seriously lacking is lower-order batsmen who can make runs," he said. "We need some good allrounders who can add quality to the team."