Former WI captain Brian Lara played significant role in success of Alick Athanaze: Reports

West Indies, World: Former West Indies captain Brian Lara played a role in Alick Athanaze’s remarkable success in the just concluded 2023 West Indies Championships, according to the update shared by Cricket360.

The update has informed that the 24-year-old left-handed batsman was the leading batsman in the Championships; he scored 647 runs for the Windward Islands, which included two centuries at an average of 54.7 from nine innings.

In the second round of the Championships, Athanaze scored his maiden first-class century 141 against Guyana Harpy Eagles. Six days later, he was selected for the West Indies Test squad for the two-match Test series against South Africa.

While Athanaze did not play in the Test series, he described his travel to South Africa as a good experience that allowed him to sit in the dressing room with international players and chat with former players, especially Lara, who was the batting mentor of the team. Athanaze revealed on the recent edition of the Mason and Guest Cricket Show that his conversations with Lara have contributed to how he played spin in the second half of the Championships; the media production co providing live cricket coverage informed the general public.

“One of the things Brian helped me with is how to play spin. He elaborated to me that one of the best ways to play spin was to be one step ahead of the bowler. In the first two matches of the season, even though I made runs against the spinners, I scored them slowly. In the second leg of the season, I scored most of my runs against the spinners quickly, not by hitting the ball hard or in the air but by thinking forward and being one step ahead of the bowlers the way Brian told me to”, Athanaze said.

Cricket360 further quoted that Athanaze expressed amazement at Lara’s ability to analyze spinners, anticipate how they planned to bowl and put pressure on them.

“His insights into how bowlers think have helped me a lot. They have not made batting easy. They have made it a lot clearer when I go to the wicket”, Athanaze said.