The 37-year-old made the announcement after captaining his side to a 99-run Super Eight victory over Bangladesh at that ground on 19th April. The news means that Lara will not participate in West Indies tour of England next month.

Lara, who has come in for intense criticism during this World Cup, admitted that the West Indies results during the tournament had been a major personal disappointment. At least the captain and his team got their act together on the day that Lara quit.

In the full knowledge of Lara's impending announcement, Ramnaresh Sarwan laid claim to the team captain position by spearheading the fightback that earned West Indies a much needed win and gave the side, and its fans, some of its pride back.

Sarwan hit an impressive unbeaten 91 from 90 balls to pull the Windies out of the hole that the early disasterous dismissals of Chris Gayle (1) and Devon Smith (5) had left them in. He combined with both Shivnarine Chanderpaul (50) and Lara (33) to lay the ground for West Indies final score of 230-5.

Both Gayle and Smith fell victim to Bangladesh's lethal pair of bowlers, Mashrafe Mortaza and Syed Rasel. It was then left to Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels (31) to pick up the pieces. But their run rate left a lot to be desired and the score stood at only 67-3 after 25 overs.

Chanderpaul and Sarwan upped the ante, however, and put on 81 for the fourth wicket. Sarwan hit some excellent shots, including 2 sixes while Chanderpaul's good innings continued until he was bowled by Aftab Ahmed. 

Lara then joined Sarwan and quickly smashed two sixes on his way to 33 before being caught by Javed Omar, off Abdur Razzak. Sarwan's sterling performance gave heart to the Windies bowlers who proceeded to cut through Bangladesh's top order batsmen like knives through butter.

Bangladesh suffered an early reversal when Tamim Iqbal was run out for 7. Omar and Ahmed only managed a joint total of 23 and Saqibul Hasan was out for a duck. Mushfiqur Rahim (38 not out) and Mashrafe Mortaza (37) restored some credibility but Bangladesh's final score of 131 was well short of what was required.

Article by Julian Armfield, BBC World Service Sport, reporting for Totally Barbados

Article Posted On:
April 21st, 2007

http://www.totallybarbados.com/barbados/Entertainment/Sports/Cricket/