West Indies legend Brian Lara finds himself in the midst of controversy as two of his former teammates – Sir Vivian Richards and Carl Hooper – have demanded apology from him for the claims he has made in his newly released book Lara: The England Chronicles.
Notably, Lara has claimed that Richards used to make him cry every three weeks and Hooper once every week.
In a joint statement, Richards and Hooper have expressed their displeasure at the “gross misrepresentations” in Lara’s book.
“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 allegations presented not only distort the reality of their relationship but also impugn their characters in an unjust and harmful manner,” the duo said in a statement released by Hooper.
In his book, Lara mentioned that he was not affected by Viv’s ‘abuse’ but Hooper always shielded himself from it.
“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,” Lara wrote.
However, the statement wasn’t well received by both Richards and Hooper, who called the allegations ‘baseless’.
“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,” the statement read.
“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.
“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,” it added.
On a separate note, Brian Lara heaped praise on Carl Hooper as a batter and called him even more talented than him and Sachin Tendulkar.
“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,” Lara wrote.
