Lara to quit international cricket

Entertainment Cricket and Other Sports
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**Thats It for the Greatest Batsman ofLast 15years

Thank You Brian for all the wonderful entertainment you provided.
**

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/291504.html

Lara to quit international cricket

Cricinfo staff

April 19, 2007

West Indies captain Brian Lara has announced his retirement from international cricket. “I have told my board and my players about it,”, he said at the fag end of the press conference following the hosts’ first win in the Super Eights in Barbados.

Lara had earlier announced that Saturday’s match against England would be his last one-day game.

Full report to follow

© Cricinfo

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

Tells Bbc

"On Saturday I'll be bidding farewell to international cricket as a player," he told a news conference.

"I've already spoken to the board and my players."

Lara is Test cricket's leading scorer with 11,953 runs from 131 Tests and holds the record for the highest Test score, an unbeaten 400 against England in Antigua in 2004.

He captained his side in 47 Tests, winning 10, in three separate spells.

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

It's a shame that he's quitting test cricket as well despite earlier suggestions that he wanted to continue playing test cricket until he was 40. But then it's always good to leave the game at your peak rather than be coerced into retirement by others.

Brian Charles Lara will be sorely missed for sure. He was a great ambassador for cricket and arguably the greatest batsman of the past decade, one of the three greatest batsmen along with Sir Gary Sobers and Sir Viv Richards to come from the Caribbean shores

Thank You Brian for all the wonderful entertainment and joy you gave us over the years.

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

We have been honoured to enjoy watching one of the greatest batsman of the game. This generation will be telling their children and grand children that we have seen Lara playing througout his career. As our elders tell us seeing Garry Sobers and Hanif Mohammed playing.

What a class player of his time :k:

Sing a Song according 2 Ur Mood !!!!!
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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

Ajeeb. This WC proved to be the graveyard of many top players. I don't think any other WC had some many retirements following it...

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

ok great, lara quitting too?.. who else is left?.. umm pollock?.. McGrath?

Why just the women?
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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

Lara perhaps should have bowed out of test cricket after the summer series against England. That would have given him the opportunity to cross 12,000 test runs and go past Tendu as the leading centurion

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/player/52337.html

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

He already said he is retiring after the WC.

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

Writing on the wall was that he was not going to be selected for the tour.

~~MASOOM BADMASSHH~~
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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

^ same kind of writing that is on karachi building walls…
“…Benazir aaway hee aaway…”
:hehe:

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and on what grounds precisely may I ask (the Windies selectors)?

cool,fool,qabool,namaqool,maqool
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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

A great player indeed, a treat to watch.

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\04\21\story_21-4-2007_pg2_5
Retiring Lara still divides opinion
BRIDGETOWN: Former greats on Friday paid glowing tributes to retiring batting genius Brian Lara, saying he leaves behind a great legacy. But the praise was tinged with regret over his failures as captain of a declining team. The record-setting left-hander announced he would retire from international cricket after his team’s last World Cup match against England here on Saturday, bringing to an end a 17-year stay on the frontline which has had its fair share of ups and downs. “I am bidding farewell to international cricket,” said Lara on Thursday, ending speculation he was about to be replaced as captain for next month’s tour of England, a trip for which he may not have even been selected as a player.

Former bowling great Wes Hall was surprised over Lara’s sudden decision despite the 37-year-old having already announced he would retire from one-day cricket after the World Cup but would continue to play Tests. “I am lost for words, it’s unexpected,” said Hall. “He was a great servant to West Indies cricket. His legacy is fantastic, a great batsman, 400 in a Test, 501 in first-class cricket, I mean it’s a big legacy,” added Hall, also an ex-president of the West Indies Cricket Board. Trinidadian Lara holds the world records for Test and first class scores. He smashed an unbeaten 400 against England in the Antigua Test in 2004 and an unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire against Durham in the English county championship in 1994.

He is the highest scorer in Tests with 11,953 runs in 131 matches with 34 centuries and the fifth-highest in one-dayers with 10,387 in 298 games. Hall’s new-ball partner Charlie Griffith agreed Lara was a genius. “He leaves behind a strong legacy and a lot of players will have to work really hard to fill his shoes,” said Griffith. Ramnaresh Sarwan, tipped to take over as new West Indies captain, praised Lara’s mental strength. “Lara is a very strong man. He has come under a lot of scrutiny but his mental strength stands out,” said Sarwan, who has been Lara’s deputy since 2003. But despite acclaiming his stature, some of his most vociferous critics accused Lara of prolonging his career. “Lara stayed on for longer than he should have, and now it’s time to thank him and look forward,” said former fast bowler Michael Holding. “He had a great career, but of course, a lot of times his captaincy was questioned.”

Holding’s teammate Joel Garner agreed Lara’s leadership left a lot to be desired. Lara’s only meaningful piece of silverware as national skipper came with the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. “It is his decision (to retire) and I can’t say it’s wrong. A captain can only be judged by his success record and that’s not good in his case. Now we have to take drastic steps to carry West Indies cricket forward,” said Garner. Former opener and a teammate of Lara, Philo Wallace said Lara’s retirement was a great loss. “It is a big loss to world cricket and one that will be hard to overcome,” said Wallace. afp

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

Gordon wanted Lara to stay on for England tour
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/current/story/291775.html
Was Brian Lara pushed out, or is he leaving cricket entirely of his own volition? That is the question still being asked as Lara prepares to bid West Indies and world cricket goodbye at Kensington Oval in the final Super Eights match of this World Cup.
For his part, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Ken Gordon says he wanted Lara to stay on for one more tour. “If you ask me personally, I would have liked to have seen him perhaps stay on for the English tour,” said Gordon. “But you have to take other people’s views into account and clearly his mind was running in a different direction.”
However, it is understood that the West Indies selectors - Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts and Clyde Butts - who reportedly met with the WICB boss last week in Grenada, were of a different view and were not considering Lara for the Test and one-day tour of England next month. Asked about this, Gordon said: “I have had no formal proposal [from the selectors] but we have been in informal discussions.” He declined, however, to reveal the nature of those discussions. “I couldn’t possibly think of answering that,” he said. “I’m prepared to be open with you, but there are limits within which I cannot go.”
Instead, Gordon who played an influential role in Lara’s return to the captaincy a year ago, painted a different picture. He said that prior to the afternoon of April 19, Lara’s decision to retire had not been expected.
“If you had asked me that at the beginning of the match yesterday, I would have said yes, it had come as a surprise,” he said. "But by the time the seventh or eighth wicket had fallen, I got a message that he wanted to see me when the team came off and would I come to meet him.
“I sensed that something was coming. And from that point onward there was no longer the surprise element. Because I knew something would be happening for him to ask me to see him at such short notice and with such urgency.”
Told of Lara’s decision to retire, Gordon didn’t try to change Lara’s mind because he didn’t think it was appropriate to do that. “Clearly Brian has been thinking for some time of his future. He didn’t discuss it as though he was thinking about it. He presented me a fait accompli. So I think we must wish him well.”
In an interview with the media on April 19, Lara said the decision had been arrived at after “extensive thought and consideration. I just think it’s the right time.” Prior to the World Cup Lara had spoken about extending his Test career to the age of 40.
Asked yesterday if he had discussed retirement with Lara prior to his announcement, West Indies coach Bennett King was noncommittal. “Some things remain private. And discussions I have with Brian remain that way.”
The departure of Lara, Test cricket’s leading run-scorer of all time and the holder of the world records for the highest individual Test (400 not out) and first-class scores (501 not out) leaves the West Indies team without their most prolific scorer and influential player for the tour of England. A new captain will have to rouse a group just coming off a dismal World Cup campaign.
“It is clearly a fundamental changing of the guard,” Gordon conceded. "Brian Lara has carried West Indies cricket perhaps for two decades and no one can take that away from him.
"People may say lots of things about he’s done this and he’s done that. But let’s understand, there’s a price that goes with genius .All our real greats, many of them have tended to be awkward, or people for one reason or another have been critical of them because I suppose they are driven by different forces and they think differently.
“We have to take the whole picture and accept the good with the bad. But overall, I think he’s so much more on the plus side. He’s been tremendous for West Indies cricket and I’d really like to see us honour that.”
According to the Gordon though, Lara has other ideas. “I indicated to him that I hoped we would be able to find some way to convey our appreciation for him. His view was that he would like to go very quietly.”
It is hardly likely, however, that the audience at Kensington today will give Lara a quiet send-off.

new kid on the block... :)
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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

Lara a great batsmen, lousy captain.

new kid on the block... :)
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Was he? or was it the lousy team that he led?

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Re: Lara to quit international cricket

*Mentions his best memories in interview with Michael Atherton
*

Sydney inning 277
Winning ICC 2004
RECORDS (375,501, 400)

RUN CHASE against AUS in 2003 series

99 SERIES(best series ever played in)

Asks crowd " Did i entertain you?" crowd shoutsssss

Now he is taking a lap around the ground....wait comes back and starts to walk into the stands and now is going through crowd...shaking hands.....camra around him...........

      **Brian Chalres Lara, The greatest thing to happen to batting. **

Nick Knight Mentions: heard about him in early 90's....Great batsman.

Jimmy Adams mentions Viv, Carl, Richie and now Brian all left on not on their terms.....but brian had better farewell then all since he got to leave infront of Full house at home ground (*ehsan bhi, do u remember Viv's last inning/series?, i did ask u that few years ago but i remember u didnt answer * )

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Very debateable.

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Yes I saw it too, such a situation-defining moment. I guess it wasn't a "Lara match" after all, but the full house crowd (22,500) was deservingly treated to one of the best matches in the World Cup thus far, and Lara himself must be satisfied enough to have served the main purpose of his farewell match (i.e. to entertain), although he might've been happier hadn't it been for stupid Marlon Samuels. The last 5-10 overs set everyone on their nerves, thrilling match. And hey Duncan Fletcher gets to be happy!

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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\04\22\story_22-4-2007_pg2_5
Ponting leads Aussie and Kiwi praise for retiring Lara
ST GEORGE’S: Brian Lara’s batting heroics were all the more impressive given the weakness of the West Indies side he played in, said one of the few men able to judge him from the standpoint of someone approaching an equal. Australia captain Ricky Ponting, bracketed with West Indies skipper Lara and India’s Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsmen currently in world cricket, paid a generous tribute on the eve of his old rival’s final international appearance, against England, in Barbados on Saturday.

“I’ve always thought he and Sachin (Tendulkar) have been the two greatest batsmen I’ve ever played against, probably for different reasons,” Ponting said after champions Australia’s dominating 215-run World Cup Super Eights win against fellow semi-finalists New Zealand here Friday. “Brian has got the ability to turn it on when he wants and take an attack apart and Sachin has been the most technically correct player I’ve seen. The thing a lot of people don’t think much about with Brian Lara, is that he’s basically had the weight of that whole team on his shoulders for the best part of 10 years and had to carry their batting and win them games almost by himself. That sort of pressure going into every game, for him to be able stand up and perform is something that should never be overlooked.”

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, another lefty, added: “I heard him (Lara) say he wanted to be an entertainer; he was all that and more. “He was a player who created interest in New Zealand and around the world - so he brought more players to the game. For a left-hander he was inspirational to watch and play against.”