Cricket united Lara, Sir Conrad

They were generations apart and were from different Caribbean countries but some key things united them.

One was their love of cricket and the other was a burning desire to see the West Indies thrive once again in the international arena.

But now that one of them, Sir Conrad Hunte, a former West Indies vice-captain and opening batsman, has died, and the other, Brian Lara, the current West Indies captain, is getting ready to lead his team against the New Zealanders, the Caribbean has been deprived of an opportunity for the two great sports figures to work together for the good of the game and the region.

That, in essence, summed up some of the thoughts of Lady Hunte, former wife of Sir Conrad (they were divorced in February after 17 years of marriage).

Sir Conrad, the former West Indies star who played 44 Test matches during a ten-year period, which began in Barbados against Pakistan in 1957, died on Friday in Australia from a heart attack while playing lawn tennis.

As Lady Hunte spoke about her former husband, it was clear that some of what he wanted to achieve in the remaining years of his life centred on West Indies cricket in general and Brian Lara, the captain, in particular.

He was so proud of Brian Lara, said Lady Hunte.

He wanted to see him make all of the right moves, not just on the cricket field but in life. You would have thought that he was talking about his own son.

He saw cricket in the West Indies as a diplomatic posting, not just athletic sports. To him it was much more than that. Cricket is a religion.

Hunte, who died at age 67, came from a small rural community, Belleplaine, in St. Andrew, and by the time his playing days were over in 1967, he had become one of the most widely respected cricketers in the world.

Mission in life

His 3 245 runs and his lifetime Test match average of 45.05 runs per innings made him one of the most successful opening batsmen in the games history.

Lara, 30, born in Santa Cruz in Trinidad and Tobago, is the holder of a number of Test and first-class batting records, and Sir Conrad saw him as someone who could lead the West Indies back to the glory days when the West Indies were world champions.

Lady Hunte said her late husband saw West Indies cricket as his next mission after his stint in South Africa where he coached Blacks in the townships while the walls of the racist apartheid system were tumbling down.

He wanted to see the West Indies come back to the fervour and the zeal that they once knew, she added. That was all he talked about. He wondered what happened.

In recent months, he also talked regularly with Lady Hunte and their three daughters about the presidency of the Barbados Cricket Association.

It was a position that he wanted with unabashed desire and it was a position he captured a few weeks ago in a much publicised campaign against the then president, Tony Marshall.

He really wanted that post, she explained. It was the next thing that he wanted to do in order to make a difference with Barbados cricket. But it wasnt just Barbadian cricket it was West Indian cricket. He dreamed of being back in Barbados and being back in West Indies cricket, Lady Hunte explained.

That return to West Indies cricket, this time in its administration, was something Julian Hunte, a former vice-president of the West Indies Cricket Board, also touched on when he commented on Sir Conrads untimely death.

Hunte, St. Lucias Ambassador to the United Nations, said that he too was looking forward to Sir Conrad playing an important role in West Indies cricket as a member of the board in the years ahead.

I was always looking forward to the day when he would do the same thing in the Caribbean that he achieved in South Africa as a coach and lecturer, Hunte pointed out.

We needed him and that kind of work and dedication in the Caribbean now more than ever. His loss is one that I know will be felt through the Caribbean, particularly at West Indies Cricket Board level.

Had Sir Conrad lived, said the St. Lucia ambassador, it was almost certain that Pat Rousseau, the board president, would have utilised his skills, experience and commitment to the game in order to put certain things on the map that we felt had always been missing.

Hunte said that he had heard nothing but praise from South Africans about Sir Conrads work in South Africa, activities, which were at the heart" of the countrys recent success in the international game.