By Imran Khan, Contributor 
Brian Lara in training. - File
Imran Khan, a Caribbean cricket writer, who was also media liaison person during the last Cable and Wireless home series, has joined the debate about whether Brian Lara was justifiably included in the West Indies' World Cup squad.
Khan's article, The Lara Factor, hitting out against the batsman's detractors, was also yesterday's lead story on the West Indies Cricket Board's website, www.windiescricket.com.
THE LARA FACTOR
WHAT is all this hullabaloo about Brian Lara being 'back' in the West Indies squad? Any West Indies team which is selected to participate in any cricket tournament, let alone the world's premier one day international tournament, must include Brian Lara, once fit. Lara being 'back' in the squad was probably the easiest decision for the selectors to make.
Prior to the naming of the squad there had been calls for Lara to be dropped, in the 'interest of West Indies cricket' and because 'Lara is not indispensable'.
Lara, the West Indies' only undisputed and proven genius with a bat should be 'out', not 'in', was the chant. This is hypocrisy in its most advanced state, maybe even a mild hint, if not more, of insularity.
No one would dare be absurd enough to suggest that Lara should be dropped based on record. But let us refresh those memories which may be getting a bit dull with age. Forget that the man is the holder of double world records. Let us not consider 501 not out and 375.
Pay no attention to the fact that Lara appears twice on Wisden's top 10 list of best Test innings. Ignore too, that he is acclaimed as one of the greatest batsmen ever to walk this side of the solar system.
All of those, for the critics, are minor Test cricket details. Let us deal with one day international cricket as that is what the World Cup is about.
WORLD CUP RECORD
Of Windies players, only the indomitable Sir Viv Richards has higher one day international scores than Lara's 169 and 153. Only Desmond Haynes (8648) has a higher career aggregate than the Prince of Port of Spain (7549).
Brian Charles (15) is second to Haynes for most one day international centuries (17), and he has nine less 50s than Haynes' record 57.
The aforementioned notwithstanding he still should be 'out', not 'in'. On what grounds? Because the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control (TTCBC) said Lara shunned the board's enquiry about his availability for national trials.
The word of the TTCBC president is taken as biblical gospel. No one seeks Lara's point of view. No, anything negative about Lara must be the unadulterated truth and the West Indies selectors should use it to grind his face in the dirt.
Lara is no angel, but his side must be sought before we waste our bitter pens' ink in hasty condemnation. That is the first rule of journalism of any professional standing.
FITNESS
Hold on, there is more why the batting maestro should be dropped. 'No one knows if he is fit enough, physically and mentally, to represent the West Indies or if he is in good form'. This is the same man, who in the last match he played, suffering from devastating sickness single-handedly saved the Windies from another humiliating defeat by Kenya.
It was not 'the team' which was rescuing Windies fans from another episode of humiliation. It was a 'mentally and physically unfit', ailing and out-of-form Lara, who played his heart and soul out to save the Windies by a mere 29 runs from what would have been a crushing defeat.
A half-fit Lara is as good, if not better than 90 per cent of all the fully fit batsmen who will be at the World Cup. His record speaks for itself. Or should we believe that all those 7549 runs were made while Lara was in peak form and fitness? By the way did the other 14 players undergo mental tests to determine whether they were 'mentally fit' to play?
Let us not forget that the captain Carl Hooper and Merv Dillon are both returning from injury as well. On these grounds these two should also be dropped as 'no one knows if they are fit enough, physically and mentally, or if they are in good form'. Is the hypocrisy now becoming a bit clearer?
Lara should also be dropped, say the critics, because he shows no respect for administrators or fans.
Let us also consider what Wisden wrote of this man who has so 'disrespected' Windies fans according to the critics. Of his 153 against Australia Wisden pronounced he 'rescued West Indies cricket from its lowest ebb'.
No one who harbours even a slight modicum of respect, for the people of the West Indies to whom cricket means so much, would in their right senses, suggest that the man who exponentially multiply the Windies chances of World Cup glory, should be dropped.
CONTRIBUTION
So Lara is now the devil reincarnate for standing up for his rights, for demanding that players be more appropriately remunerated for their services. He deserves to be dropped because he has the intestinal fortitude to openly represent his own rights and that of his fellow teammates.
It should be noted that it is largely as a result of the Lara-led South African stand-off that the WICB now publicly acknowledges that its relationship with the players must be more mutually harmonious and respectful. That is a victory for the once ill-treated players and they have Brian Lara to thank for it.
What Brian Charles Lara has done for the upliftment of the West Indian peoples through his cricket cannot be measured in any finite way. Not even his most illustrious critics can match even 10 per cent of his contributions.
It is nothing less than a shameful waste of money to have cricket journalists travel the world to report on the exploits of the West Indies team when those journalists lack any intellectual understanding of what the team's leading cricketer means to the people for whom their reports are meant.
For a deeper understanding of Brian Lara's value to West Indies cricket I would recommend Professor Hilary Beckles' article, Lara and the Caribbean Imagination. Lara's critics would do well to digest Prof. Beckles' dissection of Lara as a trailblazer of change. Two short quotes from the article may lend to a better understanding of Lara.
'The super hero of West Indies cricket within this paradigm is expected to conform to political and ideological standards established by the popular democratic movement'.
'The general turbulence that surrounds Lara is but a part of the renegotiation of cricket culture within the nationalist discourse.
'Left to the critics, the West Indies team would consist, not of class players, but of men who never question authority, who never seek change, who always, like brainwashed buffoons obey and follow but never lead.'
I remember not so long ago some Caribbean journalists calling for Ronnie Sarwan to be dropped from the Windies ODI squad. He is now one of our premier one day international players, I am yet to see any retractions, any apologies.
There comes a time in the life of every decent man when he has to apologise for being horribly wrong, and for the Lara-haters that time will soon come, once again.
