Viv Richards and Carl Hooper have strongly hit back at former West Indies team-mate Brian Lara for “gross misrepresentations” in his book – Lara: The England Chronicles.
In a joint statement released on Sunday, both former West Indies captains have rejected Lara’s “claim” that Richards made Hooper “cry once a week”, describing it as “categorically false”, and asked the latter to “issue a sincere apology for the harm caused.”
“Sir Vivian Richards and Mr. Carl Hooper are deeply disheartened by the gross misrepresentations made about them in Mr. Brian Lara’s recently released book,” the duo said in a statement put out by Hooper. “The allegations presented not only distort the reality of their relationship but also impugn their characters in an unjust and harmful manner.”
In the book, an extract of which was run recently on ESPNcricinfo, Lara wrote that Richards’ words in the dressing room could “intimidate” players, though he made clear he always had West Indies’ betterment always at heart. “Viv used to make me cry every three weeks, but he would make Carl cry once a week. Viv’s tone of voice is intimidating and if you’re not strong enough, you can take that personally and be affected by it. Me, I was never really affected by it. In a way I welcomed it, because I was so much under his arm that I knew abuse was coming and I was a strong personality. Carl? I know for a fact that Carl shied away from Viv Richards.”
But Hooper said Richards never caused him any “distress” and always had his back. “The claim that Sir Vivian was aggressive towards Mr. Hooper and made him cry once a week is categorically false. Such descriptions paint Sir Vivian as a perpetrator of emotional abuse — an assertion that is not only baseless but also deeply hurtful to both parties.
“Sir Vivian, as Mr. Hooper’s first captain, has never caused emotional distress to Mr. Hooper. On the contrary, he has always acted as an encouraging mentor and provided unwavering support. Their nearly 40-year relationship has been founded on mutual respect and camaraderie. The misrepresentation of their interactions in Mr. Lara’s book is a grave disservice to the truth and has caused undue distress to both parties and their families.”
Richards and Hooper have pulled up Lara for “attempting to profit from such deceit”, something they find “inconceivable” considering his stature in global cricket. “We demand that Mr. Lara immediately issues a public retraction of these false claims and offer a sincere apology for the harm caused. It is crucial for the integrity of public discourse and their personal and professional lives that the truth is set right.”
Lara and Richards only appeared in one international match together for West Indies, an ODI at Lord’s on the 1991 tour of England, batting together briefly in a 20-run partnership – Lara laments not getting more time in the middle with him in the book, writing that it was “every young man’s dream is to be waiting in the middle, watching The Greatest walk through the gate and onto the field where I’m standing.”
Lara played much more with Hooper, both leading him as captain and playing under his captaincy. Lara’s first international match in 1990, an ODI in Karachi, was in a side that included Hooper and Lara also played in what was Hooper’s last international game, against Kenya at the 2003 World Cup. In the book, Lara is fulsome in his praise of Hooper, calling him one of finest talents to have come out of the Caribbean.
“Man, what a player. The ease in which he batted brought out a kind of awe in us, and in all of us, even the senior players. You felt that when Carl went out to bat, they enjoyed it – Haynes, Richards, Greenidge, all these guys would stop what they were doing just to watch him.” (ESPNcricinfo)
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