Lara: a legend

Brian Lara deserves to be remembered as a cricketing great © Getty Images

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Brian Lara can undoubtedly lay claim to being one of the greatest batsmen cricket has produced.

The man from Santa Cruz in Trinidad announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket this week, with the World Cup Super Eight dead rubber against England his final farewell.

His genius with the bat cannot be questioned - his position as the leading run-scorer in Test history is testament to that - but perhaps his weakness was his inability as captain to inspire greatness in others.

It is appropriate that Lara's international swansong should come against England.

Lara enjoyed the two greatest moments of his career in matches with them, cracking a then Test record 375 in Antigua in 1994 before bettering the feat with an unbeaten 400 at the same ground 10 years later.

He retires as Test cricket's leading run-scorer with 11,953 runs at an average of 52.88 from 131 appearances.

Lara en route to 501 not out in 1994. It remains the highest score in first-class cricket

Saturday’s game in Barbados is his 299th one-day international, when he will surely add to his tally of 10,387 runs in the shorter form of the game.

Lara made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1990 and immediately marked himself out as the next great West Indian player.

Unfortunately for him, the period of Caribbean dominance was coming to an end but Lara's almost freakish ability saw him scale the heights of batsmanship.

For a period in 1994, when he played for Warwickshire and hit a world record 501 not out as part of a run of seven centuries in eight innings, he was almost untouchable.

Coming just two months after his 375, his genius was not in doubt and, when in form, he was not only one of the most devastating but also the most pleasing batsman of this or any other era to watch.

He stunned Australia with scores of 213, 153 not out and 100 in 1998-99 and, in another incredible series against Sri Lanka in 2000-01, compiled a remarkable 688 runs.

In the lead-up to the World Cup, Lara was working on plans to hold an exhibition of his cricket memorabilia in the weeks after the tournament finished.

The West Indies captain is set to throw open the doors of his £3million mansion which overlooks Trinidad's picturesque capital city, Port of Spain.

Lara reclaims his own Test record with an unbeaten 400 against England in 2004

Lara paraphernalia - dating his from his boyhood days in Santa Cruz, where he used coconut bats and marbles to learn the game, through to the bats he used in record-breaking innings of 501, 400 and 375 - will be among the items on display.

But, amid all the awards and trophies, one item will be missing, the one Lara was most desperate to add to his collection - a World Cup winners' medal.

Now he has announced his retirement without realising that dream after a lacklustre display by the World Cup hosts.

Lara, in his third spell as captain going into the tournament, failed to score a hundred in any of his 26 ODI innings last year.

“We played over 30 games last year and I always had the World Cup at the back of my mind,” he said.

“If you look at our performances, you will see that there was a lot of experimenting, especially with the batting.

“We needed to find a formula for the World Cup. In one match, I batted at nine, so there was a plan. I am confident that the results of those experiments would be evident during the World Cup.”

Despite opening with a win over Pakistan, the tournament failed to take off for the hosts, whose 99-run victory over Bangladesh this week which preceded Lara's momentous announcement was too little too late as far as qualification for the semi-finals was concerned.

The match with England offers Lara’s team-mates the chance to give their captain the send-off he deserves.