ODI series win forces legends to volte-face on Lara's captaincy

St John's, Jun 3 (UNI) West Indies' 4-1 win against India in the ODI series forced Brian Lara's critics swallow their words but batting legend Viv Richards said he would wait a bit more and see ''whether the sun shines tomorrow''.

''...a couple of days during the summer doesn't quite constitute it's a great summer. Let's wait and see whether the sun shines tomorrow,'' Richards was quoted as saying by the ''Trinidad and Tobago Express''.

Richards had recently claimed that re-appointing Lara was a move based on commercial considerations.

The former captain, however, admitted that Lara did a wonderful job, leading the side to a comprehensive series win against India, who arrived here as the overwhelming favourites.

''You have the captain, who I think did a brilliant job. I'm not afraid to say that at all. I think he did a magnificent job. Just the way we would have had our problems let us forget all those facts, he did lead the team well.

''And regardless of all the criticism, let's wait and see. To me, it's a testing time for us now to see how well we develop after this,'' he added.

''I believe that the capabilities are there for them to do that.

They are going to lose a few matches, you're going to have losses.

But just the way in which they are looking at this stage, this is what I think we in the Caribbean have been waiting for for a long, long time There's a different bounce in terms of the whole body language. Whatever the case, let us hope it continues to shine the way it is at this stage,'' he concluded.

Another Lara critic and former captain Richie Richardson also had similar views on the southpaw.

''Brian Lara led from the front, in the field in particular. Just the way he went about his job, especially in the field. He was there with a purpose,'' he said.

Lara's former team mate Curtly Ambrose was elated with the result.

''We are competing, we fought to the end, whereas in the past, as soon as it looked like we were losing, you could see the body language-we've lost, so let's finish the game.

''The last few one-days here, we fought to the end, which makes a big difference. A few of the games were very close, one run or one ball or something...so these guys start to realise that they can win games. So it's left to be seen whether they can carry on this good work into Test matches which is a much longer version, requires more patience, but can we do it?'' Another former pacer, Andy Roberts, admitted that the team displayed ''a little more commitment than in the past'' but was not convinced yet that West Indies cricket had come out of the bad patch.

''I have to wait and see if we can string together a series of victories instead of just the couple of games because at least two or three of those (one-day) games could have gone either way I want to see us dominate instead of having close games and then I will be more comfortable,'' he said.

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