Lara apologises for outburst

Cricket

Brian Lara yesterday apologised for verbally abusing the West Indies physiotherapist following last week's World Cup semi-final defeat by Australia.

"I am very sorry over what happened and I am also very disappointed in myself," said Lara in the Trinidad Guardian newspaper after the latest in a series of controversial incidents involving the star batsman.

Reports from Barbados said Lara hurled insults, including profanities and racial slurs, against Denis Waight, who is Australian-born, on a flight from Bombay to London last week.

"I don't think I handled myself in the right manner, especially while wearing the West Indies blazer," Lara added. "I had had a few drinks and I might have said some things which I should not have."

Waight, physio to the West Indies team since the Kerry Packer series in the late 1970s, is reported to have written to the nation's cricket board about Lara's insults. His letter was leaked to the media in Barbados.

n Allan Donald has been left out of South Africa's 14-man squad for the Sharjah Cup from 11 to 19 April. The Free State and Warwickshire pace bowler asked selectors if he could have "a bit of a break from cricket."