For more than a decade Brian Lara shouldered the burden of leading, and often carrying, the West Indies batting lineup, mostly from the pivotal No3 position and hardly ever from lower than four. Now he has expressed his surprise and disappointment that Shivnarine Chanderpaul, his former middle-order ally who has already assumed two of his former titles as both the team's senior man and the world's leading batsman, seems reluctant to move up the order.
Unless Marlon Samuels is selected, Chanderpaul will be the only one of this callow batting lineup who has previously played a Test in England – 10 of them, stretching back to 2000. Yet Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, has ruled out the possibility of the 37-year-old leaving his preferred position of No5 at Lord's this week. With the exception of three series a couple of years ago, in which he nudged up to four, the Guyanese has batted well down the order since July 2001, when he last came in at No3 in a Test, against Zimbabwe in Harare. Lara believes that should change if the tourists are to have a chance of upsetting the odds.
"It beats me as well," Lara said of his fellow left-hander. "It is something I've not talked in public about but I would want to know why. If he can be so consistent, why he wouldn't say, 'Let me bat with some more experienced, talented players up the order.' That's not only going to benefit him but it would help the team. Your best batter is going to be at No3 – he is the one who is going to lay the foundations to win a match. If your best batter is coming in at five, repairing damage, I don't understand the logic in it."
Recent experience reinforces Lara's point. In their last series at home to Australia in which they competed strongly for long periods, Chanderpaul came in when West Indies were four for three in the second innings of the first Test in Barbados, 38 for three in the first innings of the second in Trinidad and 73 for three and 45 for three in the third Test in Roseau.
Lara adds that the availability of Chris Gayle, who remains in the Indian Premier League, "would lend that experience". Of Gayle's well-documented problems with the West Indies cricket authorities, with whom Lara himself had a chequered relationship, he said: "Of course it is not a happy situation but that's been the case for 20-something years. Even when I started we had friction between the board and the players and that has not been solved. Unfortunately we are still in that situation and are light of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine. They are all plying their trade in India and unfortunately we are not at full strength. That doesn't take away from the fact that the present 14 or 15 guys here could give a good account of themselves."
Lara is far more positive about the man who will come in at four, Darren Bravo, a distant Trinidadian relation who had a spell with Nottinghamshire last year. "His mother is my cousin," Lara says. "My mother and his grandfather are brother and sister. Driving through the village in Santa Cruz I would stop and see him, one hand holding his shorts up and the other with a bat in it. We are happy to have him doing well and to see the legacy being left in the village.
"The fact that we have a close relationship means he seeks me out if he needs any advice. It is something I enjoy. Obviously there are some similarities between how he approaches his game and how I did many years ago and that is something we smile and talk about whenever we speak. He is a bit more powerful than I was at his age. I believe he has the ability without a doubt but speaking to him I believe he has the mental strength and dedication needed, too."
Lara fears this will be a tough tour for Bravo and Co – although he has detected recent signs of improvement. "We have always had very talented young cricketers and that has never disappeared from West Indian cricket. How that talent is taken forward either personally or by the cricket board is a different story. This team is full of talent – we have some very good young players – in both departments. For this particular tour I think it is going to be very tough, for them especially with the weather conditions and the lack of preparation. We are fighting, though. It is a pretty young team but it is one that has something in it that could go forward. I have a funny feeling that we are going to impress you over this summer."
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