Thursday, April 27 2006 09:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Port Of Spain: Legendary batsman Brian Lara has been named captain of the West Indies for a third time, it was announced here on Wednesday (Apr 26, 2006).

Ken Gordon, president of the West Indies Cricket Board, announced on Wednesday during a news conference at his office in the Trinidad and Tobago capital that Lara would replace fellow left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Chanderpaul held the position over the last year in which he could only motivate the side to a solitary Test win and three victories in limited-overs internationals before resigning almost three weeks ago.

The 37-year-old Lara, Test cricket's leading run scorer, disclosed that he was a little reluctant to take the job, since he had resigned himself to supporting a young captain for the remainder of his playing days and helping him to mature into the job.

It took a lot of support from past and present players to cajole him into reconsidering his decision not to accept the position again.

Decision came following a lot of thought

"This decision came following a lot of thought and consideration from myself," Lara said.

"The fact that a number of former great players took the time out to give me a call over the last couple of weeks to instill in me some interest to revisit my position about the captaincy of the West Indies team was a humbling experience."

Lara paid tribute to Chanderpaul and revealed that his predecessor had also called to offer his support to him. "I want to say that he did a wonderful job in the circumstances and I think he will reap the benefits of his efforts in his later life," Lara said.

West Indies are preparing for a seven-match limited-overs international series against Zimbabwe, starting with a double-header on Saturday and Sunday at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

The squad for the first two limited-overs internationals was also named and there were no major surprises.

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