Cricket: Special powers desert ageing Lara

WELLINGTON - It happened to the best of them, starting right back in the days of W.G. Grace.

Wilfred Rhodes eventually succumbed, Colin Cowdrey and Ian Botham tried to beat the odds and lost, even Viv Richards saw the writing on the wall.

Now it appears fate is poised to come calling for Brian Charles Lara.

Old Father Time makes exceptions for no one, it seems; not even a player who has rewritten the records in just about every genuine batting list, and has scored more runs than anyone else in the history of the game.

The horrible reality was confirmed in the second test yesterday when Lara fell to another soft dismissal as the West Indies battled to save the match, losing control of an attempted drive off Nathan Astle and being caught at point.

It was the fourth consecutive failure from the 36-year-old, and it left the West Indies hanging on by their fingernails at 118 for four when bad light intervened, trailing by 62 with two days remaining.

Lara, who survived a total of 13 deliveries at Auckland, has perished of his own hand on all four occasions so far, a catalogue of errors that includes being bowled around his legs, a bungled pull, and a pair of ambitious drives.

His scores could double as his Eftpos PIN - 5, 0, 1, 1.

Once the bane of any bowling attack, he is now being tormented by the likes of James Franklin, Chris Martin and Astle - a spectacle that puts one in the mind of an ageing wildebeest being stalked by a pack of young hyena.

The man who made his test debut in 1990 alongside the remnants of the great West Indies era - Marshall, Bishop, Greenidge, Haynes and Richardson - walked out to a warm reception from the Basin Reserve crowd, and departed to an equally poignant ovation only 10 minutes later.

His dismissal was a sad moment in the hearts of all the game's aficionados, the instant when it became harder than ever to ignore the obvious telltale signs - the exaggerated pre-delivery movement; the way he searches for the ball.

It might be premature to write Lara off completely, and particularly given his double century at Adelaide last year, but on recent form at least, he has become a tragic sight - a sort of Superman without his special powers.

His presence at the crease was required yesterday after the West Indies snuffed out the last pockets of New Zealand resistance at 372 to concede a lead of 180, and then made a reasonable start to their second innings, reaching 53 without incident.

It was then that they hit the self-destruct button, losing three wickets in the space of 30 runs as Daren Ganga, Runako Morton and Lara were chipped out by Martin, Franklin and Astle, respectively.

New Zealand's biggest breakthrough came just before tea when Daniel Vettori, who had earlier been denied the wicket of Chris Gayle by another Daryl Harper umpiring blunder, had the same batsman adjudged leg before by the same umpire.

Gayle's 68 had underpinned the West Indian salvage operation, but his dismissal has left the bulk of the recovery operation in the hands of not out batsman Shiv Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo, and embattled wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin.

Chanderpaul has already survived a scare after being dropped by Stephen Fleming, a miss that came just after the New Zealand skipper had taken his 148th catch to move into fourth-equal place on the all-time list.

Fleming was cleared after an x-ray to an injured hand but remains in doubt for today.

BEST HANDS

Most catches in tests

181 Mark Waugh (Australia)

157 Mark Taylor (Australia)

156 Allan Border (Australia)

148 Brian Lara (West Indies)

148 Stephen Fleming (New Zealand)

136 Rahul Dravid (India)

122 Greg Chappell (Australia)

122 Viv Richards (West Indies)

120 Ian Botham (England)

120 Colin Cowdrey (England)