Tuesday, July 11 2006 15:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Former England captain Mike Atherton has lauded Rahul Dravid's performance during India's recent tour of the Caribbean but believes that the tour showed West Indies captain Brian Lara in a poor light.

Writing in The Telegraph, he said, "For Dravid there were the spoils of victory.For Lara there were only recriminations, as he blamed a losing start to his third tenure on the selectors, the pitches and just about everything else except his own leadership."

"Dravid's role in India's victory in the final Test match at Jamaica's Sabina Park was immense.For Dravid the team ethic is everything. You can see it in the way he plays - every innings is fashioned according to the situation and the needs of the team and you see it in the way he conducts himself, which is almost entirely without ego, a rare trait in great sportsmen," he said.

"Now compare that mature reaction to defeat to Lara's post-match comments after the deciding Test match in Jamaica. Lara began by announcing to a startled gathering that, on the eve of the Test, he had received a letter from the selectors informing him that he had been appointed a selector a month ago," he said.

"He then went on to criticise the selectors for their decision-making, for giving him too many batsmen and not enough fast bowlers. The Sabina Park pitch came in for a lash: 'unfit for Test cricket' and 'totally prepared for the Indians," he said.

"And then he finished by stating that he would revisit his decision to captain the West Indies not because they had lost, you understand, but because it was dragging down his reputation as captain," he said.

Atherton wrote that as an 'example of narcissism', Lara's comments came close to David Beckham's recent lachrymose departure from the captaincy of the England football team.