England's national squad stood in line to honour legendary West Indies captain Brian Lara when he walked on the field in his final international appearance in the Cricket World Cup at Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday.

The crowd roared "Lara, Lara, Lara," and he removed his helmet in tribute.

Brian Lara waves goodbye in his final appearance for the West Indies.
(Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

The match between England and West Indies was of no consequence because this was a farewell to one of cricket's best.

"It's not about me, it's about the West Indies," Lara said. "This game is for the people of the West Indies."

Lara hugged outgoing batsman Chris Gayle as the master batsman stepped down the stairs from Garfield Sobers Pavilion, where his team lined up to applaud him.

Playing in his 299th limited-overs international, Lara entered the game with the score 131-1 in the 24th over.

He faced one delivery and then remained off strike for nearly three overs before his first run was a quickly taken single.

Lara hit three fours during his 17-ball innings, which ended with a needless runout.

As he walked off the field for the last time, Lara raised his bat and his helmet as the crowd stood to applaud.

The World Cup is now down to four teams: Sri Lanka and New Zealand meet in Jamaica on Tuesday, and defending champion Australia faces South Africa in St. Lucia a day later.

The England-West Indies match was played before a capacity crowd of 25,000 at Kensington Oval, because of Lara.

On Thursday, he said this game would mark the end of the road for him as an international cricketer.

World record score

Lara, who turns 38 next month, holds the world record score of 400 in Test cricket and 501 in the first-class game.

He initially was expected to quit only one-day cricket at the end of the Cricket World Cup. Instead, he decided it would also be his final international appearance.

"We love you, Prince Lara," read one banner flung from the spectator galleries as Lara strolled out for the toss with England skipper Michael Vaughan.

This was Lara's fifth appearance in the Cricket World Cup.

But the West Indies, which won consecutive titles in 1975 and 1979, reached the semifinals just once during his international career.

Lara, a left-hander from Trinidad, said his retirement was coming a bit too soon.

The ideal farewell would have been the championship final at the same stadium.

"It's just a week too early for my last match," he said. "Next Saturday would have been great."