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Former West Indies teammate Brian Lara has come under fire from Viv Richards and Carl Hooper for making “gross misrepresentations” in his book, Lara: The England Chronicles. The two former West Indies captains denied Lara’s “claim” that Richards made Hooper “cry once a week” in a joint statement that was made public on Sunday. They called the accusation “categorically false” and requested that Hooper “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, from which an excerpt was recently featured, Lara stated that although Richards made it obvious that his only concern was the betterment of the West Indies, his remarks in the dressing room might “intimidate” players.
“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.”
The only international match in which Lara and Richards played together was a One-Day International (ODI) at Lord’s during the 1991 tour of England. In the book, Lara bemoans the fact that he did not get to spend more time in the middle with him, noting that ‘every young man’s dream is to be waiting in the middle, watching The Greatest walk through the gate and onto the pitch where I’m standing’.
Lara played a lot more with Hooper, both as his captain and as his subordinate. Hooper was a member of the team that played in Lara’s debut international encounter in 1990, an ODI in Karachi. Lara also participated in Hooper’s final international match, which took place during the 2003 World Cup against Kenya. Lara lavishes Hooper with praise in the book, referring to him as one of the best talents to have emerged from the Caribbean.