Lara rules out captaining West Indies again

Brian Lara has made it clear he is not interested in captaining the West Indies cricket team again.

"The only person I am going to lead right now is my daughter, Sydney, but West Indies require a good leader and I think Carl Hooper is doing a good job," Lara said.

Speaking in an interview to be broadcast on Caribbean radio on Saturday, he added: "I just want to be a part of the team and I want to do my part leading in the batting and trying to get the young players doing the right thing."

Trinidadian Lara said a successor to Hooper should be groomed but acknowledged it was hard to say who would be the next West Indies skipper.

"We have a number of young players, but none are captaining their country. That in itself is a problem because there is no one to say, 'let us look at him at the regional level and see if he has the necessary leadership qualities'."

Lara gave up the West Indies captaincy early last year after a chequered two-year stint in which he won six tests, lost 10 and drew two. He was replaced by Jimmy Adams for 12 months, then Hooper took over.

"One of the problems I had was being named Trinidad and Tobago captain at the age of 20. With senior players like Gus Logie and Tony Gray still playing, I had a major difficulty," Lara said.

"I had a problem getting my leadership qualities out and getting everybody to rally around me because I was such a young player, so we have to be very careful."

Lara is still troubled by a long-term hamstring injury and is an uncertain starter for West Indies tour of Sri Lanka that is scheduled to begin early next month.

Mail Cricket Editor