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| April 22, 2007 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 04, 1428 |
WICB chief wanted Lara to tour England
PORT-OF-SPAIN (Trinidad), April 21: West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Ken Gordon said on Saturday that he would have preferred Brian Lara to tour England before announcing his retirement.
“If you ask me personally, I would have liked to have seen him perhaps stay on for the English tour,” Gordon told the Trinidad Express.
“But you have to take other people's views into account and clearly his mind was running in a different direction.”
Lara was playing the last match of his international career on Saturday in Bridgetown where the West Indies were facing England in their last match of a disappointing World Cup campaign.
Despite Gordon's view, the newspaper claimed that the West Indies selectors – Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts and Clyde Butts – were not considering Lara for the Test and one-day tour of England next month.
Gordon said he was surprised by Lara's decision to stop playing.
The 36-year-old, who had already decided to quit One-day Internationals, announced his full retirement after the win over Bangladesh on Thursday.
“By the time the seventh or eighth wicket had fallen, I got a message that he wanted to see me when the team came off and would I come to meet him,” recalled Gordon.
“I sensed that something was coming. And from that point onward there was no longer the surprise element. Because I knew something would be happening for him to ask me to see him at such short notice and with such urgency.”
Gordon didn't try to change Lara's mind.
“Clearly Brian has been thinking for some time of his future. He didn't discuss it as though he was thinking about it. He presented me a fait accompli. So I think we must wish him well.”—AFP
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