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Lara changes mind, will tour England

Brian Lara was yesterday named in West Indies' 16-man squad for the tour of England after initially telling selectors not to consider him for selection because of his ailing mother.

Lara, the holder of the world records for the highest innings in Test cricket (375) and first-class cricket (501 not out), resigned as captain on February 24, saying he needed to rebuild all facets of his game in order to sustain the remainder of his cricketing career, and a week later said he was taking a break from the game. Thus he missed the home tours by Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

Michael Findlay, chairman of selectors, said Lara had on Tuesday written to the board saying he was unavailable due to his mother's illness but changed his mind 24 hours later.

Findlay said Lara told him ''the family circumstance which prompted my letter remains unchanged but I have put in place arrangements to handle this while I am on tour.''

Findlay said the squad had already been picked before Lara's change of mind and one player whom he did not name had had to be dropped.

''He (Lara) gave me the assurance that he is fully committed to the tour, he is prepared to get himself physically ready and he is fully committed to West Indies cricket,'' Findlay said.

The squad for the tour of England, starting on June 2.

Jimmy Adams (captain), Sherwin Campbell, Brian Lara, Adrian Griffith, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ridley Jacobs, Franklyn Rose, Nixon McLean, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Reon King, Corey Collymore, Mahendra Nagamooto and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Agencies