Lara let off with written reprimand

Cricket

Brian Lara, the West Indian whose tongue hits as hard as his bat, got off lightly with a written reprimand for two incidents during the World Cup.

"Any future breach of contract will attract the strongest condemnation and action," the West Indies Cricket Board of Control said in a statement issued by its secretary, Andrew Sealy. Lara, the former Warwick shire player, had twice prompted "unsatisfactory reports", the statement said of the outbursts during the competition in February and March.

Lara made remarks in the Kenyan dressing room after a humiliating loss to the side, allegedly saying it was worse losing to the all-white South Afri- can team in the 1992 World Cup. Then came alleged slurs aimed at the team's Australian-born physiotherapist, Dennis Waight, on the flight from Bombay to London after the tournament.