Michael Holding dismisses Brian Lara's criticism of unsporting West Indies behaviour of old

Lara also cited other instances like the Windies taking undue favours from umpires during their tour of Pakistan in 1988 and said, he was "not very proud of". The left-handed batsman went onto say that, he felt "embarrassed".

New Delhi: Days after Brian Lara slammed past West Indian players for unsportsmanship behaviour during their heydays, legendary fast bowler Michael Holding on Wednesday dismissed the batting great's criticisms, saying he has "never been interested" in the former's opinions.

"I am not interested in whatever Brian Lara says. Never was, never will be," Holding's was qoute as saying by PTI. It was in reaction to Lara's explosive statemnets made while delivering the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture at Lord's last Monday.

It's open secret that the two West Indians are not the best of friends, and this latest flare-up will only make things worst between them.

During the speech, Lara relived that infamous stump kicking moment during West Indies' 1980 tour of New Zealand, and other questionable actions from other Windies greats, who were then considered the top dogs in world cricket.

"I grew up at a time when West Indies dominated the world. For 15 years from 1980, the West Indies never lost a Test series. And just before that, Colin Croft decided he was going to take a piece out of Fred Goodall's shoulder and ran into him during a Test Match. Michael Holding decided he was no longer a cricketer, he was a footballer and he kicked a stump. I'm sure the occurrences during that period had a big effect on cricket," Lara had said.

Lara, 48, considered as one of the greatest batsmen of modern times, also cited other instances like the Windies taking undue favours from umpires during their tour of Pakistan in 1988 and said, he was "not very proud of" of it. The left-handed batsman went onto say that, he felt "embarrassed".

But Holding, who is known as the "whispering death" for his deadly deliveries, accused the legendary batsman of "getting away with murder" during his reign.

Lara played 131 Tests and 299 ODIs for the Windies, scoring 11953 and 10405 runs respectively, with the help of combined 53 hundreds. He holds the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, an unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994. His 400 not out against England in 2004 is still the highest individual knock in Test.

Holding, 63, played 60 Tests and 102 ODIs taking 249 and 142 wickets respectively. He onced formed the fearsome West Indian pace battery, with Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Sylvester Clarke, Colin Croft, Wayne Daniel and Malcolm Marshall.