Brian Lara announces retirement

West Indies captain Brian Lara announced on Thursday that he will retire from all international cricket after his side's final World Cup match against England on Saturday. The 38-year-old batsman was close to tears as he spoke after the hosts had beaten Bangladesh at Barbados' Kensington Oval. 

Brian Charles Lara will go down as one of the greatest batsmen in cricket history. The 38-year-old from Trinidad is Test cricket's all-time leading scorer. He has scored 11,953 runs from 131 Tests and holds the record for the highest Test score, 400 not out against England in Antigua in 2004.He also holds the highest score in first-class cricket, 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994. 

When asked about his cricketing future, Lara said, "This is the last question, I'll just say that I have given this extensive consideration and I just want everybody to know that on Saturday I am going to bid farewell to international cricket as a player". He added that he wanted to thank everybody and said he has already spoken to the board and my players. 

There have long been doubts over his ability as a captain about the fact that in three separate stints he has won just 10 of 47 Tests. However Lara's batting has helped check the decline of the once-rampant West Indian team. He hopes to be able to pass on some of his knowledge and experience to help West Indies cricket in the future. Ramnaresh Sarwan's 91 was enough to secure him the man of the match award and the batsman paid tribute to his captain. The West Indies have just one match left in this World Cup, against fellow disappointments and traditional rivals England in Barbados on Saturday when the Kensington Oval could well be filled to capacity as cricket says goodbye to Brian Charles Lara.