West Indies legend Gary Sobers has lent his support to Brian Lara saying that the under-fire West Indies captain should not be made a scapegoat for the Caribbean team’s first home series defeat by England for 36 years.
”Brian’s contribution has been tremendous. His record in South Africa and Zimbabwe was very good and he came back as the world’s number-one batsman,” said Sobers.
”The captaincy didn’t affect his form in South Africa. He shouldn’t be replaced — who is there to replace him anyway? We haven’t reached the standard yet where we can afford to replace him.”
Sobers was speaking after Michael Vaughan’s England team wrapped up the third Test in Barbados by eight wickets inside three days to take a 3-0 lead in the four-match series.
It was England’s first series triumph in the West Indies since 1968.
”I think we underestimated England. We returned home after performing so well on tour to South Africa and thought we would do well at home,” Sobers told the BBC.
”We hadn’t heard much about England’s bowlers so we underestimated them. Complacency is the only conclusion I can come to for these results.
”And when you start off with a defeat like that it’s very difficult to haul yourself up off the ground. But this West Indies side is a good team, make no mistake about that.
”I think they have a lot of ability. They came back from South Africa after scoring over 300 runs every time they batted — that’s a very good sign of the calibre of the players we have.”
Sobers, who played in that 1968 series that Colin Cowdrey’s England won by 1-0, was impressed by England’s performance.
”This England side is a lot better than many I’ve seen. They’ve gone past the stage of bringing in older players when things go wrong,” he said.
”Now they call up younger players, which is what they should have done 15 years ago. They have a good blend of players.
”The bowlers are very useful and stick to their task. England are on the right track and have been for the past four or five years. But they were helped by our poor batting.” — Sapa-AFP