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Lara pondering retirement U-turn

King

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King

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Former West Indies captain Brian Lara has hinted at a return to cricket only months after announcing his retirement from the international game. More... t.gif Lara pondering retirement U-turn By Telegraph online Last Updated: 10:38am BST 13/06/2007 Former West Indies captain Brian Lara has hinted at a return to cricket only months after announcing his retirement from the international game. ucrup113.jpgThe long goodbye: but could Brian Lara be about to return?Lara announced his West Indies retirement following his country's failure to qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup in the Caribbean. He had initially planned only to retire from one-day internationals at the end of the tournament but was expected to be part of the ongoing tour of England. However, it now appears as though Lara - Test cricket's leading all-time run-scorer - wants to return to the game, although it remains unclear for who, and at what level, he intends to play. "I think I am going to play cricket again. If I go six or eight months without cricket I would lose it and I don't want to lose it yet," said Lara. Asked if that meant paying for celebrity team Lashings, he replied "No, no," leaving County cricket or the proposed new Indian breakaway 20-over league as intriguing possibilities. Lara expected and hoped to be playing Test cricket in England this summer but claims he left West Indies cricket on his own terms, when he retired so suddenly after the World Cup. "We needed a new direction, someone who was willing to see some sort of change" he said. "I was willing to do that. I wanted to come to England but I had also said I wanted to finish with one-dayers. "It's not ideal but then how many things in life are?" Despite the recent second innings heroics against England at Old Trafford, the decline in West Indies cricket has been laid bare so far this summer. Lara insists that West Indies' problems run very deep. "It's that we don't have a good infrastructure for young guys to develop. West Indies have a great under-15 side. I know a 16-year-old guy in Trinidad who's awesome but I worry for him because of the facilities. "A mediocre Australian cricketer at 17 or 18 will be slapping everyone all over the world five years later. If you don't have facilities and you don't have employment then you have a negative atmosphere." Lara feels that he fulfilled personal goals, but regrets not seeing the West Indies reach their full potential. "I've done what I could do so I'm happy with me. As a team, we've not been able to climb out of the doldrums so that will remain on my mind. That does not rest well with me. I leave West Indies cricket with my head held high. "I've tried my best and I've worked my arse off. Maybe I could have done things differently but I've done things my way - that's the most important thing."

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CC1981 Newbie

CC1981

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disagree. Lara > Tendulkar in tests. Tendulkar is still playing and he can still rectify it though. Proof in the pudding is Lara hasnt padded his average vs Bangla + Zim as much as Tendulkar ( 395 runs @ 65.83 as opposed to 1474 runs @ 92.15 for Tendy) and yet he has over 1000 runs more than Tendulkar in 12 more innings only. Plus he batted for a far weaker batting lineup throughout his career. Up until 2004, i'd say Tendy was ahead of Lara but Lara's ahead of Tendy as far as it stand today cumulatively.

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