I chastised Lara for his attitude and not giving 100%: Curtly Ambrose

We were now seeking to rebound from the rarity of a series loss to Australia in 1995 though we were still confident of winning in England There was just one problem It turned out to be the most challenging and difficult tour I have ever been on in my entire career especially in reference to the ridiculously long scheduleOur first game was 13 May and the last on 3 September 1995 after two games against Yorkshire at Scarborough mdash this after a sixTest series Can you imagine how I felt after a long tough series to be told we then had to go and play some cricket at ScarboroughAlso ViewIn pictures 10 controversial autobiographies by cricketersWest Indies captain Brian Lara right talks to fast bowler Curtly Ambrose during the Leeds Test against England in 1995 PicsGetty ImagesThe other challenging part of this trip centred on team disunity or more to the point Brian Lararsquos conduct that was unattractive for a top international cricketer We had some issues with the great Brian Lara starting back in the Caribbean in the Australia series Actually the problems were more between Brian and the captain Richie RichardsonA lot of people thought Brian wanted his job I wasnrsquot sure but I sensed that Brian did not support Richie to the fullest These issues that were hovering about the team became clearer in a meeting after the Jamaica Test against Australia prior to going to England Brian said he wasnrsquot in the mood to go to England and again it was my view that this was borne out of his feelings about Richiersquos captaincy So even though Brian did eventually tour there was friction and still some problems going onRichie RichardsonOngoing problemThis ongoing problem came to a head when Brian left the tour between the fourth Test in Manchester and the fifth in Nottingham Richie is a laidback guy and he can put up with a lot before he snaps but there came a point when he could not take any more with Brian We had a team meeting in Taunton before the second threeday match against Somerset and he really chastised Brian for being lsquoegotisticalrsquoIt was nothing to do with Brianrsquos batting mdash after all he had just smashed 87 and 145 at Old Trafford But Richie felt Brian was undermining his leadership Richie said he couldnrsquot deal with egotistical people and Brian really took it personally and said a few things back and walked out of the meeting We didnrsquot know where he went but we learned that he had left the tour He was AWOL for a few daysWinston BenjaminDiscussions between Brian the tour management and the WICB president Peter Short saw Brian return to the squad in time for the next match against Gloucestershire at Bristol I wouldnrsquot want to speculate on the nature of those discussions but when the news came from the manager Wes Hall that Brian would be rejoining the team most of the guys were not too happy including meWe knew he was a great player and would make a significant difference to the team but the manner of his walkout was grossly disrespectful to the captain and the team I asked the manager before Brian returned whether he thought Brian would act differently when he came backThe managerrsquos answer was lsquoI donrsquot think sorsquo I felt that he should not have been allowed to come back and the officials could have dealt with it at the end of the tour back in the Caribbean It seemed to me that in some peoplersquos eyes Brian Lara was bigger than the teamThis was another example of West Indies Cricket Board insularity and politics where decisions are made not on merit but on the strength of a guyrsquos reputation or the island where he comes from I have seen it many times where guys have erred in far less a way and have been treated harshly when maybe only a slight reprimand was required For instance Winston Benjamin was sent home from this tour for in my view doing nothing wrong He was extremely ill and was not able to play the game against The Universities at The Parks when they wanted him to playPoor WinstonHis condition improved slightly during the game and he tried casually kicking a football with the guys before the game and it didnrsquot go down well with management Their take was lsquoYou are too ill to play the game but you can play football rsquo They sent him home on disciplinary grounds presumably after consulting with the WICB That cost him not only the remainder of that tour but his international careerI also heard that some WICB officials wanted to ban Kenny Benjamin for life because of not wearing his blazer on this tour even though there was a perfectly good reason for this So the Brian Lara episode shows how inconsistently cricket in the West Indies can be managedI do not believe the fact the two Benjamins were both from Antigua is mere coincidence I come back to the insularity and political bias of our cricket once more When yoursquore from the Leeward Islands or Windward Islands you are not treated the same way as players from the larger territories like Guyana Trinidad Jamaica and Barbados The facts are thereGoing back to the Lara episode I am not going to say I have always been a saint But whatever I have said that may have upset people has always been in the best interests of the team I have become heated and aggressive in team meetings but have never walked out because it is about honesty and what is best for the team For Brian to have been invited back was hurtful because it suggested he was bigger than the teamThis is not personal against Brian Lara because we have always got along fine I am speaking generally If I had acted in the way that Brian had I would have expected to have been kicked off the tour and dealt with accordinglyBitter tasteThis unpleasant incident left a very bitter taste in my mouth and as is typical of the passionate and honest way that I react at moments like these I told the coach Andy Roberts and manager Wes Hall that at the end of the tour I would no longer play for the West Indies I told them that I would continue to play county cricket or seek a contract in South Africa or Australia This decision had nothing to do with my cricket it centred on how the WICB seemingly had a higher regard for one man than the teamThey tried to talk me out of it throughout the fifth Test at Trent Bridge which I missed with injury They worked on me for several days I deferred judgement then but finally decided after thinking about it further at home that it was not the right time for me or West Indies cricket to bow out then As angry as I was about the whole thing I felt that I should not allow the Brian Lara saga to end my careerI always said I would end my career when I wanted to end it After Brian rejoined the squad for the fifth Test following his brief exit from the tour we had what was supposed to be a tactics meeting before the Trent Bridge Test But I was very upset with Brian and had to say something that meant this would not be your average team meeting but would be quite an explosive team talkThe way I usually express my grievances in team meetings is to criticise collectively as it is about the team rather than individuals But when I am especially unhappy I will start calling names And in this meeting I called out the captain Richie Richardson and told him what I thought of his batting then I called Jimmy Adams and told him the same and again with Carl Hooper My concerns were about the senior batsmen stepping up and raising their game I purposely left Brian Lararsquos name until last It was difficult to criticise his batting after his 87 and 145 in a losing cause in ManchesterSpewing venomBut I chastised him for his attitude and about him not giving 100 per cent to the team and I started to swear When I do that the guys know I have really had enough I told him that he was a professional and he should behave like a professional I said lsquoWhen you want to score runs you will score runs these England bowlers cannot get you out when you are focusedrsquo I chastised him severely because I knew he had more to offer than the other batsmenI suppose it was a backhanded compliment because I knew what he was capable of Brian seemed to heed my advice and battled magnificently as he went on to score 152 20 and 179 I was forced to miss the fifth Test through injury There were disciplinary issues all through that England tour At the end of the series back home in the Caribbean Lara Hooper Kenny Benjamin and myself had to face a disciplinary committee in Barbados all for different reasons Lara for his walkout Hooper for not turning up at Scarborough for those last two games of the tour Kenny Benjamin for the West Indies blazer issue and for me it was quite similar Kenny was never actually given a blazer that fitted him throughout the tour and was often using borrowed ones that didnrsquot fit right either despite him complaining about it almost every dayIn my case we were asked to wear a West Indies blazer back home on the plane though when Wes Hall called everyone in their room the night before we flew to advise about the dress code I was not there and never got the messageApparently the original plan for every player to fly back to his own island had changed and we were all now flying back to Barbados together before going our separate ways I never got to hear any of this and when I came down into the hotel lobby on the morning of our departure I saw all the guys in their blazers I was in my denimsThe first I knew of our uniform request was when Richie asked me where my blazer was while we were boarding the bus Then the manager suggested I got changed before we flew but I reasoned that my blazer and shirt were creased and crumpled in my bag and even if I put them on I would look more of a mess I did check on the condition of my blazer in my suitcase when we reached the airport but it wasnrsquot in a good stateCurtly Ambrose in his West Indies blazer Pic Ravi KrishnanProud of my blazerNot only that I would have looked foolish wearing my blazer with jean pants and a denim shirt I preferred to be the odd man out than to look stupid I wore my West Indies blazer with pride normally but in this case it wasnrsquot rightWhen we reached the other end and were met by flashing cameras it didnrsquot look good for me But Wes Hall did state in his end of tour report that I was the only one who did not receive his messageAfter Brian and Carl Hooper had their hearing in the morning I had a hearing later with Kenny I explained my case but they still fined me mdash all four of us actually mdash 10 per cent of my tour fee It was a tough tour yet here I was handing some of my hardearned salary back to the WICB for effectively not being in my hotel room to pick up a message from the managerExcerpted from Curtly Ambrose Time to Talk with Richard Sydenham Published by AurumPan Macmillan India Price Rs 599Smart stat 71On January 30 1993 West Indies pace spearhead Curtly Ambrose at one stage claimed seven wickets for one run off 32 balls vs Australia at the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground in Perth