Garner calls for Lara to quit
Bridgetown (Barbados) : Legendary West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner has urged Brian Lara to step down as captain of the embattled team.
The appeal follows a string of successive defeats the West Indies have suffered in the World Cup.
"We have it all tangled up in West Indies cricket, we have it all wrong," said Garner, who took 259 wickets in 58 Tests between 1977 and 1987.
"To see the real problems we cannot just look at what is happening now. We have to go back a few years. He (Lara) is not doing the job and has to be replaced. There is no doubt about that.
"He had the job as captain twice before and could not produce a string of successes for us. We simply need to find a new captain. We have many problems and he is not the solution."
Meanwhile, former West Indies captain Richie Richardson said he was disappointed by the team's performance and criticised the decision to allow players a short break before their next match.
The 45-year-old Richardson said he was also amazed at how the team plunged to three defeats after three wins in the preliminary round in Jamaica.
"I saw them in the first round in Jamaica and I felt they looked really good," said Richardson, who has to his credit 5,949 runs from 86 Tests.
"Then, when they came to Antigua it was a totally different ball game and they look totally flat.
"Now we are hearing they want time to go home and relax. That's unbelievable in the middle of a tournament when they should be representing their people. They have let us down," he said.
