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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - West Indies captain Brian Lara will retire from international cricket after Saturday's World Cup match against England, he announced here today.
The 37-year-old Trinidadian holds the record for the highest test and first class scores.
"This Saturday will be my last match in international cricket,"
said Lara after his team's 99-run win over Bangladesh here on Thursday.
"I've given this extensive consideration and on Saturday I will be bidding farewell to international cricket as a player," he said after West Indies beat Bangladesh by 99 runs in a Super Eights match on Thursday.
"I've already spoken to the board and to my players.'
Lara's side finally picked up their first win in the Super Eights stage with a 99-run victory over Bangladesh today in a game between two already eliminated sides.
Ramnaresh Sarwan struck an unbeaten 91 as West Indies recovered from the loss of two early wickets to make a total of 230 for five and then paceman Daren Powell claimed three wickets as Bangladesh were dismissed for 131 in the 44th over.
Brian Lara's side, who had lost to all four of their previous second-round games, were struggling at eight for two following the loss of openers Chris Gayle and Devon Smith.
But solid knocks from Marlon Samuels (31), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (50) and a lively partnership between Sarwan and Lara (33) helped them to a reasonable total.
A healthy crowd at a sun-drenched Kensington Oval had groaned when Smith was clean bowled by Mashrafe Mortaza and then Gayle, after surviving a strong appeal for caught behind, was trapped lbw by Syed Rasel.
Mortaza and Rasel produced movement and change of pace, as well as nagging accuracy and they restricted West Indies to 17 for two after 10 overs.
Under pressure, Samuels and Chanderpaul then got their heads down and made progress, albeit slowly, putting on a 47 partnership in nearly 19 overs up before Samuels went with a frustrated shot as he was caught behind off the spin of Saqibul Hasan.
Chanderpaul was joined by fellow Guyanese batsman Sarwan, widely tipped to replace Lara as the one-day captain, and they continued the building work, putting on 81 in 16.1 overs.
But from the ball after he brought up his half-century Chanderpaul was bowled attempting to hit across the line to Aftab Ahmed.
In came Lara, in his penultimate one-day international before he retires from the format, and along with the well settled Sarwan the skipper helped step up the pace.
Lara hit a six over mid-wicket and then another over point as he made a lively 33 in 27 balls before he was caught at cover off Abdur Razzak.
The hosts racked up 84 runs off the last 10 overs and they gained a total which put the pressure on Bangladesh.
The reply got off to a bad start when opener Tamim Iqbal, who had been dropped by Lara, was run out following a mix-up with Javed Omar.
Local boy Corey Collymore, getting some bounce out of the wicket, then claimed two vital wickets with Aftab Ahmed caught behind by Denesh Ramdin off a ball that left him and then it was 23 for three when Saqibul Hasan failed to deal with a steeply rising delivery and Ramdin snaffled up a simple catch.
Powell's second spell finished off any realistic chance of a revival from Bangladesh with Omar caught by Gayle and then had captain Habibul Bashar caught by Dwayne Bravo at third slip to leave the score at 52 for six.
Mortaza provided some resistance with a gutsy 37 before he was yorked by Bravo who then got rid of Razzak.
Gayle picked up the wicket of Rasel to close the innings and give the home support something to smile about at last.
They finish their campaign against England in Bridgetown on Saturday. West Indies will begin a tour of England next month.
The seven-week tournament, the first in the Caribbean, will culminate at the same ground on April 28.
- REUTERS
