Captain Lara the Third

History was made as the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) put the control of Windies cricket once more into the hands of Brian Lara. Known more for his batting than his captaincy, it is the third time that he has been appointed to the helm of the team.

Lara replaces Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who resigned from the role following the tour of New Zealand. The West Indies won just one of nine matches on the tour.

Lara was first elevated to the captaincy in 1996, when he stood in for Courtney Walsh against India. The West Indies won that Test match in spectacular fashion, bowling out the visitors for 81 as they chased 120. For the England tour of the Caribbean in 1997, Lara was officially named captain and the West Indies won the Test series 3-1 and the one-day internationals 4-1.

After a devastating tour of New Zealand at the end of 1999, Lara stepped down from the captaincy and took a break from professional cricket. He returned to the side under Jimmy Adams and later served under Carl Hooper, before he was appointed captain once more, immediately following the 2003 World Cup.

He was then relieved of the captaincy in 2005, when contract disputes saw him unavailable for selection and accounted for the crowning of Chanderpaul.

Lara’s captaincy career has been mixed. Whilst he led the West Indies team to the Champions Trophy title in late 2004, he has managed to oversee just 10 wins against 23 losses in 40 Tests. With the bat he has never been questioned however, boasting an average of 59.20 when leading the West Indies team.

The squad for the upcoming seven match ODI series against Zimbabwe has also been named with the 1st ODI being played at Guyana on 29th April.

West Indies Squad
Brian Lara (captain), Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Runako Morton, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor.