LARA
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP):
WEST INDIES cricket superstar Brian Lara has been granted permission to skip the second leg of next month's Sri Lanka tour, an official said.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) granted the brilliant 36-year-old, left-handed batsman leave upon Lara's request, cricket board spokesman Leonard Robertson said in a statement.
Lara had said a reduction in one-day cricket "might give me a little more time in the Test arena."
"That's what I enjoy a lot, the five-day game," the statement said.
The West Indies are scheduled for two Tests - in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 14-18 and in Kandy, Sri Lanka, July 22-26 - before the triangular one-day tournament in which the West Indies will play Sri Lanka and India twice. The final will be in Colombo on August 14.
