CRICKET legend Brian Lara announced today he has only one game left in him, making West Indies' final World Cup match tomorrow the last of his spectacular career.
The 37-year-old record-breaking batsman said he would halt his career after tomorrow's Super Eight match against England at Kensington Oval.
"I have given this extensive consideration. I just want everybody to know that on Saturday I am bidding farewell to international cricket as a player," Lara said after his team's 99-run win over Bangladesh in a Super Eights game here today (AEST).
"I have already spoken to the board and my players."
The announcement means Lara has also retired from Test cricket and will not be part of the West Indies team for next month's tour of England.
The 37-year-old played 131 Tests, scoring 11,953 runs with 34 centuries.
He holds the world record Test score of 400 not out.
Lara has also played 298 one-day internationals, scoring 10,387 runs.
"I want to be remembered as a batsman who provided entertainment to the fans and in adversity tried my best to perform."
Lara, 38 on May 2, had already announced last week that he would retire from one-day cricket.
In his third stint as West Indies captain and the subject of much criticism for the team's lacklustre World Cup performances in the World Cup, Lara admitted the campaign had been a major personal disappointment
. It was his fifth World Cup but West Indies has only once reached the last four during his career, when it was beaten by Australia in Mohali, India in 1996.
Lara hinted that Ramnaresh Sarwan should be the next captain.
"He's matured. He's been vice-captain for some time," said Lara said.
"It's important that whoever gets the job, he gets whole hearted support."
Lara denied that contract negotiations, which were still going on when the tournament started, had affected the West Indies' performance.
"We've got a players association and a West Indies cricket board," he said.
"These matters are handled at that level by people who are astute enough to understand the delicate situation. We are just the players.
"Whatever the situation, when we go on the cricket field we try our best. I know the disappointment of the cricket fans. I am sad that we have disappointed the Caribbean and our supporters around the world."
One of Lara's greatest supporters, Sir Garfield Sobers, had insisted Lara was not the reason behind the team's recent troubles.
Sobers believes there are major problems with the infrastructure of the sport in the Caribbean.
"As far as the West Indies team is concerned, Brian Lara as a captain and all the comments that have been made sometimes people don't look at the facts," Sobers said.
"The facts are that the West Indies in the last two and-a-half years have had a tremendous amount of problems.
"One, the West Indies board didn't have enough money to have enough camps. Two, there were always problems with not being able to field a strong West Indies team, there were strikes and there were all kinds of problems.
"To build a house, if you don't have a solid foundation and you build a house, you are going to have problems later on. And I think this is where the problems are stemming from.
"People don't seem to realise this and there are all kinds of calls for this and calls for that, which I think is being over done by lots of people."
The 37-year-old record-breaking batsman said he would halt his career after tomorrow's Super Eight match against England at Kensington Oval.
"I have given this extensive consideration. I just want everybody to know that on Saturday I am bidding farewell to international cricket as a player," Lara said after his team's 99-run win over Bangladesh in a Super Eights game here today (AEST).
"I have already spoken to the board and my players."
The announcement means Lara has also retired from Test cricket and will not be part of the West Indies team for next month's tour of England.
The 37-year-old played 131 Tests, scoring 11,953 runs with 34 centuries.
He holds the world record Test score of 400 not out.
Lara has also played 298 one-day internationals, scoring 10,387 runs.
"I want to be remembered as a batsman who provided entertainment to the fans and in adversity tried my best to perform."
Lara, 38 on May 2, had already announced last week that he would retire from one-day cricket.
In his third stint as West Indies captain and the subject of much criticism for the team's lacklustre World Cup performances in the World Cup, Lara admitted the campaign had been a major personal disappointment
. It was his fifth World Cup but West Indies has only once reached the last four during his career, when it was beaten by Australia in Mohali, India in 1996.
Lara hinted that Ramnaresh Sarwan should be the next captain.
"He's matured. He's been vice-captain for some time," said Lara said.
"It's important that whoever gets the job, he gets whole hearted support."
Lara denied that contract negotiations, which were still going on when the tournament started, had affected the West Indies' performance.
"We've got a players association and a West Indies cricket board," he said.
"These matters are handled at that level by people who are astute enough to understand the delicate situation. We are just the players.
"Whatever the situation, when we go on the cricket field we try our best. I know the disappointment of the cricket fans. I am sad that we have disappointed the Caribbean and our supporters around the world."
One of Lara's greatest supporters, Sir Garfield Sobers, had insisted Lara was not the reason behind the team's recent troubles.
Sobers believes there are major problems with the infrastructure of the sport in the Caribbean.
"As far as the West Indies team is concerned, Brian Lara as a captain and all the comments that have been made sometimes people don't look at the facts," Sobers said.
"The facts are that the West Indies in the last two and-a-half years have had a tremendous amount of problems.
"One, the West Indies board didn't have enough money to have enough camps. Two, there were always problems with not being able to field a strong West Indies team, there were strikes and there were all kinds of problems.
"To build a house, if you don't have a solid foundation and you build a house, you are going to have problems later on. And I think this is where the problems are stemming from.
"People don't seem to realise this and there are all kinds of calls for this and calls for that, which I think is being over done by lots of people."
:new_shocked:
