BRIDGETOWN, April 22: Michael Vaughan paid tribute to Brian Lara after the West Indies batting legend bowed out of cricket, describing the man who regularly tormented England with his record-breaking exploits as a ‘genius’.

“In some ways, it's great to see the back of him because he's scored a lot of runs against us and it will be nice to play against the West Indies without him because we'll probably get them out for a few runs less,” smiled the England skipper after his team's one-wicket World Cup win over the hosts on Saturday.

Lara, who scored a world record of 375 and then bettered it to 400 not out – both against England – retired from international cricket on Saturday after a glittering 17-year career.

The 37-year-old master batsman couldn't deliver a final, commanding performance as he fell, run out for just 18 before his team lost their last Super Eights match to finish sixth in the World Cup. England finished fifth.

“Lara is a genius. There are not many geniuses in the game and we are losing one today. The England team and all our supporters wish him well in retirement. He has had a great career,” said Vaughan.

“He's done wonders for the game of cricket worldwide, not only in the Caribbean. In the circumstances, if he had got going today we could have been chasing 350.”

The match also marked the end of Duncan Fletcher's reign as England coach. Fletcher stepped down from his post to make way for Peter Moores.

“We wanted to perform well today because a couple of our staff were leaving – Fletcher and physio Dean Conway - they were part of our setup for a number of years so we wanted to win for them.”

Vaughan said England's failing to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals was a huge disappointment.

“We won the last game but we haven't done what we thought we should have done in this World Cup. We have to be realistic and say we didn't do what we came here to do,” said Vaughan.

Defending champions Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa qualified for the semi-finals.

“We didn't play to our potential. It's disappointing that we didn't go through to the semi-finals but I guess that this was the best game in the tournament,” added Vaughan.

“There was a big crowd and a great atmosphere, we were proud to be involved in it.”

Vaughan believes England can start afresh with a new coach.

“Now Peter comes in and I am sure he has his own ideas, and that will be a fresh start. What is important is that we are to play the West Indies in a few weeks' time. We are going to be a very similar side, and we wanted to get one up on them going into the Test series.”—AFP