Date-stamped : 06 Feb95 - 14:52
Tour Match: West Indies v Otago,
Carisbrook, Dunedin, 29-31 January 1995

Lara made milestone no ton of fun - Richardson
by Richard Boock of The Otago Daily Times

A stream of abuse from West Indian cricket captain Brian Lara be-
came the catalyst for Mark Richardson`s second first-class centu-
ry at Carisbrook, the Otago left-hander revealed  after his   in-
nings.

Richardson`s 103 in the drawn Bank Of New Zealand three-day match
was  forged  in the face of some fiery short-pitched bowling from
Kenneth Benjamin, and an equally hostile welcome to the crease by
Lara on Monday evening, the Otago player said afterwards.

The verbal sledging was apparently linked to an incident  in  the
West  Indies`  first  innings  when Lara - who was bowled by Aus-
tralian women`s representative Zoe Goss in a charity match before
Christmas  -  took  offence over an intended humorous remark from
Richardson.

"I was at first slip and (Chris) Finch was bowling  to  Lara.   I
just  said to Finchy, `Come on Zoe`.  I thought it might make him
(Lara) smile, but he obviously didn`t like it."

Richardson, who came to the wicket after Ken Rutherford`s dismis-
sal,  said  Lara  welcomed him with a stream of "total abuse" and
intimated the West Indian fast bowlers would be attempting to hit
him."

"I`m not sure what his game was but he made me feel  very  deter-
mined.   I  wasn`t  going to give him the satisfaction of getting
involved in a scene with his quick bowlers."

Unbeaten on eight overnight, Richardson said he struggled to come
to terms with the incident when he went home and attempted to re-
lax.

"I simply couldn`t settle down.  I couldn`t  even  sit  down;  it
really got to me.  I`ve been abused by good players before but he
was someone I completely idolised, a great player.  He just   let
me have it from point-blank range.  It upset me, I guess."

When Richardson returned to the fray yesterday  he  said  he  was
determined  not  to  be bounced out, and, while eventually losing
his wicket attempting to hook Benjamin, he  had  brought up   his
second first-class century off the previous ball.

"I guess I`m too smart for my own good; maybe  I`m  too  mouthy,"
Richardson  said during the lunch interval.  "I`m happy it wasn`t
Curtly (Ambrose) out there."

In contrast, Richardson said another senior West  Indian  player,
Keith  Arthurton, had been "really nice and complimentary" during
his innings.

When asked about the altercation with Richardson after the  game,
Lara  said  he was surprised the issue had been raised, as he be-
lieved "whatever happened on the field should stay out there."

"There was no misunderstanding," Lara said.  "The  comments  were
directed  at  me and I think if you`re prepared to give a bit (of
verbal) you should be able to receive it as well."

"His comments did affect me and I didn`t think they were a  major
problem  or anything but when he came out to bat, I thought `well
he`s back on the field,  I  should  give something  of  his   own
back`."

"He (Richardson) played pretty well I thought.  He put  away  the
bad  ball and it was nice to see the guy putting up such a fight.
I haven`t played a game here (at Carisbrook) before but the (Ota-
go)  team seemed a pretty good side and it was nice to get a com-
petitive match before the test."

<END> Contributed by Alex.Brown (anfield@dunedin.es.co.nz)