Lara exits teary-eyed with unfulfilled dream

A teary-eyed Brian Lara bid an emotional farewell to international cricket, admitting he was leaving the stage with the unrealised dream of seeing West Indies cricket back at the top.

After his side lost the see-saw Super 8 match of the cricket World Cup to England by the wafer-thin margin of 1 wicket, Lara said, "Not all my dreams have been fulfilled. From the very first time I played cricket, my dream was to see the West Indies back on top of the sport. Unfortunately, that has not happened and we have not been able to stop that decline in the last 10-12 years. That's the most disappointing thing." Considered an aloof personality, Lara, however, insisted that he had been a team man and said whoever succeeded him in the captain's job should be given full support.

Lara could not end on a winning note and despite scoring 300, West Indies lost their final match of this World Cup to England. Lara himself was victim of a horrible mix-up when Marlon Samuels called for a run and then changed his mind which cut short Lara's stay in the middle.

Asked if he had forgiven Samuels, Lara smiled and said, "No, no, it's not a problem. It happens from school days. Sometimes the ball is behind you and you can't see. You move on." Asked which performance stood out in his memory, Lara said, "I have quite a lot of memories. My 277 in Sydney that was my first Test century and I named my daughter after that place. Then comes the ICC Trophy 2004, the world record chase of 418 against Australia and the 1999 series against Australia, that's the best series I've played."