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Lara resigns as Windies captain

Brian Lara, long regarded the prince of West Indies cricket, has abdicated his throne.

The 30-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago has requested the West Indies Cricket Board not to consider him for the post of West Indies captain for the forthcoming 2000 Cable and Wireless home series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

"After accepting the captaincy at the beginning of the 1998 season I immediately set high, but attainable goals for the West Indies team and myself," Lara wrote in a letter to the West Indies Cricket Board.

He added: "After two years, the moderate success and devastating failure that has engulfed West Indies cricket has brought me to the realisation that there is a need for me to withdraw from my present leadership position."

Lara is the third captain to quit in the last three weeks, the others being Pakistan's Wasim Akram and India's Sachin Tendulkar, who will relinquish his post after the home series against South Africa.

Lara is choosing to step aside following his team's crippling performance under him on their recent tour of New Zealand. The West Indies lost two Tests and all five limited-overs internationals against New Zealand on their tour between December last year and January this year.

The gifted left-hander leaves the selection committee, comprising chairman Mike Findlay, Joel Garner and Joey Carew, to look elsewhere for a captain when they assemble in St. Vincent on March 7 to nominate a skipper for the series against the Zimbabweans and the Pakistanis.

"I feel honoured to have been entrusted with the responsibility of leading the West Indies cricket team and sincerely thank the WICB for the opportunity to serve," Lara wrote to the WICB.

Lara assumed the captaincy from long-standing fast bowler Courtney Walsh at the start of the 1998 home series against England, after leading the side to a series-clinching victory in the fourth Test of the 1997 home series against India.

Lara's announcement comes as West Indies prepare to name a training squad of 20 players for the series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan, and ultimately their summer tour of England.

Pat Rousseau, the Jamaica-born president of the WICB, thanked Lara for his service as captain during a very difficult period in West Indies cricket.

"I know he has made a very hard decision and I appeal to the public to give him the total support that the WICB will be giving him as he continues his career," Rousseau said.

Lara, who holds the records for the highest individual innings in Tests and first-class cricket, has played 65 Tests for West Indies scoring 5,573 runs at an average of 51.60. In 15 Tests as captain, West Indies have won six Tests and lost nine. He has also played 167 limited-overs internationals scoring 6,317 runs at an average of 42.39.