Lara set for ODI return
published: Thursday | March 30, 2006

LARA

NAPIER, New Zealand (CMC):

WITH HIS eye firmly fixed on next year's World Cup on home soil, West Indies star batsman Brian Lara wants to return to the one-day international (ODI) fray in the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe and India.

The 36-year-old left-hander, whose innings of 83 earned him the Man of the Match award in the rain-ruined third and final Test against New Zealand, last played an ODI in May of last year when South Africa administered a 5-0 whipping of the hosts.

Since then, the regional selectors have acceded to his request not to be considered for the shorter version of the game, with the explanation that the schedule of Tests and one-dayers were taking a toll on him physically and he preferred to focus on prolonging his Test career.

CAREFUL THINKING

Yet, he has always made clear his desire to sign-off his ODI career at the 2007 World Cup. It is a situation, he admits, which will require some careful thinking in the lead-up to the game's premier tournament.

"I think it's a situation where we still have to sit and talk," Lara said yesterday at McLean Park in alluding to future discussions with the selectors. "Before the World Cup, there is the ICC Champions' Trophy (in India in October) in which we are the defending champions. We are playing one-day cricket in the Caribbean in the next two months against Zimbabwe and India," he said.

"If it's the place where the World Cup is being played, you'd want to play to get accustomed to the conditions and feel comfortable in that situation again."

Despite the desire to get involved again in the more hectic version of the game, the former captain said it would have to be conditional.

"It would be difficult for me to play all the one-dayers between now and the World Cup, plus the Test matches," he reiterated.

"I am very much interested in playing in the World Cup, but it's a situation where maybe they will have to nurse me through and find out when it's necessary for me to play to get the right games out of me to get me fit and ready for the World Cup."