Holding takes aim at Lara
Michael Holding has come in off the long run to respond to Brian Lara.
On Wednesday, Lara said he was ‘‘truly embarrassed’’ by his team-mates’ behaviour on their fractious cricket tour of New Zealand in 1980, as well as other tours during the 1980s and 90s, The Times reported.
The tour featured several unruly moments, including pace bowler Colin Croft shouldercharging Kiwi umpire Fred Goodall as he ran into bowl in one of the tests. Holding spectacularly kicked out set of stumps after his appeal for the dismissal of New Zealand batsman John Parker was turned down.
‘‘I grew up at a time when West Indies dominated the world. For 15 years from 1980, West Indies never lost a test series. And just before that, Colin Croft decided he was going to take a piece out of Fred Goodall’s shoulder and ran into the umpire during a test match.
‘‘Michael Holding decided he was no longer a cricketer, he was a footballer, and he kicked a stump.
‘‘I’m sure the occurrences during that period had a big effect on cricket.’’
But Holding, who has previously accused Lara of ‘‘getting away with murder’’ during his time captaining the West Indies, hit back yesterday.
‘‘Brian Lara can say whatever he likes and I will not listen,’’ he was quoted by The Times as saying.
‘‘I was never a Brian Lara fan and I never appreciated the way he played.
‘‘As for having a big effect on cricket, I’m very glad about it. It brought the international panel [of umpires] into force. But it wasn’t just us - there were other incidents involving Mike Gatting and [Arjuna] Ranatunga.
‘‘We believed in ourselves and the more we won the more it built our belief to become even greater.
‘‘Winning became a habit and every time we went out on that field, we expected to win.’’