West Indies legendary batsman Brian Lara has revealed that there would be no letter from former president Nelson Mandela, which saved their tour 16 years ago, to protect the national team's tour to South Africa later this year.
The West Indies are scheduled to play three Tests, three T20 Internationals and five ODIs on their tour of South Africa ending on January 28, just over two weeks before the Cricket World Cup begins in Australia and New Zealand.
However, doubts remain whether tour would go ahead as planned as the West Indies players are currently embroiled in a dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over compensation, Sport24 reported.
The dispute caused the players to pull out of the fifth and final ODI against hosts India earlier this month, which saw the remaining ODI, one T20 International (T20I) and the three Test series cancelled.
Lara admitted that the administration of West Indies cricket is at an all-time low. He said that he doesn't know all the finer details, but added that he knows it's a matter of principle for the players, as they are standing by their rights to receive compensation.
Lara said that the administration of West Indies cricket is at a low and the cricket bosses would have to take a long hard look at themselves.
He also revealed how the Windies tour to South Africa in 1998/99 was also almost called off, but it was a letter from former president Mandela that saved the tour. Then South Africa cricket boss Ali Bacher flew to London to hold discussions with the Windies.
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Lara said that his trump card was a letter from president Mandela, adding that in his own handwriting, he requested the West Indies to go ahead with the tour. He said that he couldn't refuse when Bacher gave him that letter and they decided to go ahead with the tour.
The 45-year-old Lara scored 11,953 Test runs at an average of 52.88. He also holds the record for the highest score ever in Test cricket when he scored 400 not out, achieved against England at Antigua in 2004, the report added.
