West Indies batting star Brian Lara leaves a team meeting at the Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus yesterday. - Ian Allen WEST INDIES cricket team manager Ricky Skerritt yesterday blasted India's federal investigating agency (CBI) report into match-fixing which apparently names star batsman Brian Lara.
"What are these people alleging?" said Skerritt, shortly after exiting a team meeting and before checking out of the Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus en route to Australia.
"It is the same thing as in England. It is an allegation and until they can show me the source of origin ... I don't care who it has gone through ... I don't care which government it has gone through, it means very little to me," said Skerritt of the report which was given to the Indian government on Monday and is expected to be made public today.
"Anybody can tell government anything, anybody can tell police anything. Let me see some evidence. Just because it is some report that went to the Indian government doesn't mean anything to me. Until I see it coming out of a court of law, where I see some sort of official legal document which has gone through a process of accepting evidence and putting a formal report together which will then be dealt by the right authorities, I am not interested."
The manager further questioned the absence of the name of another West Indian believed to be in the report.
"What has happened to the name of the other player that was supposed to be named in the report? We believe people are innocent until proven guilty and we have no reason to believe Brian Lara is guilty of this. I don't know what it is. I am not interested in what it is. I just know that until I see some sort of a basis ... something that suggests that there is authenticity to this allegation, until then, I am really not interested in it."
Skerritt said the team had disregarded the report and was focusing on the upcoming tour.
"The team is not even paying attention to it. We went through it in England. We are going through it now and I am sure we will go through it again. Every time the West Indies start a tour, some story always pops up."
Of the impact the allegation will have on Lara and the psyche of the team on a whole, Skerritt said: "We haven't allowed this to affect us before. The day after the allegation was released in England we won the first Test at Edgbaston. We will not allow this thing to distract us."
Attempts to speak to Lara proved futile as although the double world record holder seemed willing to talk, a seemingly agitated Skerritt said Lara was not allowed to speak on the matter.
Lara was among eight players, former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia, Manoj Prabhakar, Australian batsman Mark Waugh and former Pakistan batsman Salim Malik named in the report handed over to the India Government on Monday.
Former England captain Alec Stewart, former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and former Australian batsman Dean Jones are also reportedly mentioned in the contentious document.
By Fitzroy Prendergast
Staff Reporter
