Lara Keen To Bow Out On A High

WEST INDIES NEWS

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Lara - set to end ODI career.

By David Clough, PA Sport, St George

Brian Lara is determined to show the West Indies cricket public his one-day team will fight to the end - even if his time in charge is approaching the end.

Lara has clearly indicated his intention to retire from limited overs cricket, after Tuesday's 67-run defeat against South Africa finished off the Windies' realistic hopes of reaching the World Cup semi-finals.

As the 37-year-old master batsman could contemplate only what might have been for the hosts, his opposite number Graeme Smith was able to look ahead with more purpose to South Africa's bid for a last-four spot.

For Lara's team, though, the game is up - barring a freakish set of results - in this tournament, and the best the captain can do is to vow to play with pride in the Windies' two remaining Super Eight fixtures.

"It's definitely a huge disappointment," he said, after West Indies had failed - despite 92 from Ramnaresh Sarwan - to provide a credible chase of South Africa's Cup best 356 for four at Queen's Park.

"It is sad that we have disappointed the people of the Caribbean, and supporters around the world.

"We feel it and we know the man on the street is disappointed. We understand what cricket means to them."

West Indies had no answer to the batting of AB de Villiers (146), whose maiden one-day international hundred underpinned a South Africa innings in which the opener shared a second-wicket stand of 170 with Jacques Kallis (81).

"We wouldn't go out there not wanting to perform," Lara added.

"It just happens that we've played bad cricket - and we hold our hands up.

"We don't deserve to be in the semi-finals - and we are sorry about that."

As for his own future, Lara appears already to be looking forward to a Test series in England this summer - but will play no part in the limited-overs encounter scheduled to follow that.

"I think this is the end of my one-day career, for sure," Lara told the ICC.

"I honestly feel my game is over and we should give it to one of the younger players. It's really tough playing one-day internationals out there.

"After the World Cup the next one-day tournament for the West Indies is in June in England and I'd love to sit back and watch and see the team do well," he said.

"I want to leave a team that plays better. And that is still my hope.

"These might be my last two one-day internationals but I still want to see the team moving out of this competition learning something from it and that's all I can hope for.

"It's demoralising, yes, but I want to see certain things happen and I want to see the team move on."

Lara believes the extra expectation placed on a team hosting the competition took its toll.

"We did not stand up to the pressure," he said.

"There was already that feeling that host nations don't do very well. Pressure played a part, for sure.

"But we've got two games left. Whether we're out of the World Cup or not, we've still go out there and play with pride - and play to win.

"We will try to regroup and show the West Indian public that there is fight, and there is still a lot of cricket in front of us."

For Smith, the outlook is altogether more optimistic - his South Africa team having put themselves back on track after their shock defeat against Bangladesh.

"We felt we were a little bit tentative against Bangladesh and we wanted to really come out and express ourselves this time; we didn't want to restrict ourselves or put ourselves under pressure," he said.

"We knew we'd let ourselves down (against Bangladesh), and every one of us felt bad after that game."

Smith can look forward to another tough assignment this weekend, against one of the Super Eights' leading lights New Zealand.

But before then, he has been at pains to set the record straight about the mood in his squad.

"Some of the stuff that's been going around back home about the team being divided and in pieces and fighting is all **** - so it's really nice for the guys to bounce back the way they did," he said.

"The New Zealand game is a big one. They have played well in the tournament, have a pretty balanced team and play well together.

"We've performed well against them at times, and others they have beaten us.

"But if we can play the type of game we played against West Indies - allowing our natural ability to come through and attacking - it will bode well."