zimcricketnews.com

West Indies legend Brian Lara arrived in the country this afternoon to attend the CBZ 2010 Cricket awards as the guest of honour. The awards will be held in Harare on Friday evening.

“It was a very easy decision for me to come as a guest of honour to the awards, I am happy to be out here and Zimbabwean cricket is very close to my heart. I know the chairman well Peter Chingoka and I just looked forward to being here again, obviously in a non-playing capacity, still it is going to be a very exciting three days,” said Lara.

Lara’s first visit to Zimbabwe was in 1989 as captain of the West Indies team, before he started playing international cricket for the West Indies.

“I recall great memories from the tour and a couple of tours since then. I enjoyed playing in Harare, Bulawayo, Triangle and different areas of the country; I have very fond memories of the place.”

“Zimbabwean cricket is close to me because I started here before I even started playing international cricket. I know it has been an uphill struggle for the Zimbabwe team but obviously everybody has been optimistic about Zimbabwean cricket and we want to see them back in the test arena,” said Lara.

Lara is by far one of the most decorated cricketers of all time and grand ambassador of the spirit of cricket. His last visit to Zimbabwe was the West Indies national team visit in 2004 when he officially opened Takashinga Sports Club in the Highfields suburb of Harare.
[Source: ZC]