Lara looking to retire from one-day matches

West Indies captain Brian Lara gave indications that he is likely to hang up his boots in the one-day version of cricket in the wake of his team's dismal performance in the World Cup.

"I think this is the end of my one-day career, for sure. I honestly feel that my game is over and we should give it to one of the younger players. It's really tough playing one-day internationals out there," said Lara Tuesday, after West Indies lost by 67-runs to South Africa in a Super Eight match of the World Cup.

It was West Indies' fourth successive Super Eights loss that left them on two points and needing a miracle to allow them to crawl into the semi-finals.

Now virtually eliminated, Lara said it was time to move aside to allow fresh talent to come through. He apologised to the people of the Caribbean for the West Indies' performance in the World Cup.

"We are all disappointed and we are very sorry for the way we have performed in this World Cup," said Lara.

"All we can say is that we are sorry to our people."

The West Indies will now focus on their last two matches - against Bangladesh and England in Barbados April 19 and 21 - in a bid to restore a little bit of pride to the region.

"There will be no semi-final place for us but we have to play with pride and character in the next two games," said Lara.

"It's a chance to show we can perform with pride and character."

The West Indies will tour England in June and Lara said he would "love to sit back and watch and see the team do well".

"I want to leave a team that plays better," he said.

"And that is still my hope. These might be my last two one-day internationals but I still want to see the team moving out of this competition learning something from it and that's all I can hope for."

Lara has played 297 one-day matches and scored 10,354 runs at 40.60 with 19 hundreds and 63 half-centuries. (IANS)

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