Lara refuses to talk as Windies arrive in Australia
West Indies super batsman Brian Lara, who is alleged to have taken money to under-perform, refused to talk to the media here Saturday, when the side arrived in Perth at the start of their Australian tour.
Team manager Ricky Skerritt said Lara had placed the matter in the hands of his lawyer in England who had told him not to add anything to a statement issued there categorically denying he had taken money from an Indian bookmaker to under-perform in two games in 1994.
"Brian is obviously very concerned about this, because he is totallly unaware of any of this activity, and has denied having ever being involved in any such activity," Skerritt said.
"So we are focussing on the cricket, trying to give Brian as much support as we can, but we are going to try to do everything we can not to distract us from why we are here," Skerritt said at a press conference after the team arrived here following an exhausting four-day trip from the West Indies.
"Brian would not normally front at a media conference of this nature," he said.
Only Skerritt, coach Roger Harper and captain Jimmy Adams were available to journalists.
Skerritt said: "As the tour goes on -- as Brian makes his hundreds -- you will have access to Brian the cricketer.
"If we feel it is necessary for Brian to speak to you at the right time -- and if his lawyers want him to -- then he will.
"But at this point, we in the Caribbean believe people are innocent until proved guilty.
"This conference is not about Brian -- it is about the West Indies tour of Australia."
Lara was named in a report issued Wednesday in India after an investigation into match-fixing.
The report said Lara was one of nine players offered or paid money by Indian bookmaker M.K. Gupta.
The report said Gupta told Indian Central Bureau of Investigation officers he had paid Lara 40,000 US dollars to under-perform in two one-day matches during the tour of India in 1995.
The other players named in the report included disgraced former South African captain Hansie Cronje, former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, former England captain Alec Stewart, former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and Australian batting star Mark Waugh.
Mail Cricket Editor
