West Indies legend Brian Lara will bring an end to his one-day international career at the World Cup to be staged on Caribbean soil next year.
The 37-year-old batsman said that the last two matches of the ongoing one-day series against India in Trinidad would be his last in front of his home crowd, signalling that he was likely to bring the curtain down on an illustrious career in the shorter version of the game.
"I hope I am not speaking out of turn but I do feel that the final two games in Trinidad will be the final ones in front of my home. There is nothing (at home) in the World Cup," Lara said after his team beat India by four wickets to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match rubber.
This would make the two matches at Port of Spain a special occasion for the 'Prince of Trinidad', who has compiled 9,551 runs in 267 ODIs at an average of 41.16. He has scored 19 hundreds and 58 fifties in his ODI career so far.
Prior to being appointed West Indies skipper for the third time, Lara had largely stayed away from one-dayers in the last few years, concentrating mainly on Test cricket, in which he is the all-time highest run-scorer.
But the leadership responsibility brought him back to the shorter version of the game in which he seems to be now plotting a Caribbean revival.
The 1995 Wisden Cricketer of the Year may continue to showcase his enormous talents in Test cricket beyond the World Cup. He has amassed 11,294 runs in 124 Tests at 53.02 with 31 hundreds and 47 fifties. He has the highest individual Test score of 400 not out to go with the highest first class score of 501 not out.
