Richards, Hooper hit back at Lara for ‘gross misrepresentations’ in his book

Mon, Jul 22, '24

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.”

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