Cricket legends back Lara, say allow him to do his job

Grenada, Apr 9 (UNI) Under fire West Indies captain Brian Lara and his team today received a morale booster ahead of the crucial World Cup tie against South Africa with legendary cricketers Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Everton Weekes coming out in support of them.

''Let Lara and his team alone, allow the team to do their job,'' the two greats opined before the home side's crunch match against South Africa.

Speaking at an event, Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Everton Weekes urged the fans and players to show restrain and tone down criticism against Lara and his team.

According to Sir Garry, Lara was still the most knowledgeable person in West Indies cricket and that it was not fair to lay the blame on the skipper alone for the home side's less than impressive performances in the Super Eights so far.

''There have always been criticisms about Lara. I don't know what people expect of him,'' Sir Garry said.

''I don't know if the people expect him to hold the players' hands and make them perform. Lara, in my estimation, is still the most knowledgeable person in West Indies cricket. Lara knows his cricket.'' Sir Garry and Sir Weekes' support at this time when the West Indies having lost three consecutive Super Eights matches in a row is sure to help the morale of the players in a must-win situation in their remaining three matches beginning with the one against South Africa here tomorrow.

Sir Weekes was of the view that ''All of the great captains had great teams'' and ''Lara has not got a great team and I wouldn't go as far as saying that he should be fired. He is still the best batsman in the side. He might not be the best captain and he is not the best captain because he hasn't got a good team.'' However, another legendary player Lance Gibbs has said that the main problem with the home team was that they had no pride left for playing for West Indies.

''You have to have pride for the team you are representing and I am afraid the players are lacking that,'' he remarked.

UNI