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Brian Lara is still capable of being a world-beater.

That's the opinion of Ian Bishop, manager of the Trinidad and Tobago team for the Red Stripe Bowl in which Lara showed some of his old magic with a commanding century against Northern Windwards.

Bishop's comment adds to the growing discussion following Sir Everton Weekes' statement a few weeks ago that the double world record-holder may be past his best.

That statement is something that I wouldn't apply to any sportsman because when you look back on a career, at some point there is going to be a high point that you can always look back on, Bishop told WEEKENDSPORT yesterday.

[But] there is nothing that should really stop Brian Lara from consistently scoring runs as long as he goes on playing the game.

If Sir Everton was alluding to whether he would score 375 again that's a Herculean effort and it may never happen but it doesn't mean that Brian Lara cannot be a world- beater.

The 32-year-old Lara set world records for the highest Test and first-class scores during a six-week period in 1994, but his high standards have declined in recent years to the extent that his Test average has slipped from the high 50s to 47.

His most recent phenomenal scoring was in the 1999 home series against Australia, when, as captain, he was under probation by the West Indies Cricket Board and responded with centuries in three successive Tests that earned West Indies an unlikely 2-2 series result.

He is still a world-beater and when he puts his mind to it, he can still do what the team requires and be outstanding, Bishop said.

I still think he has a lot of cricket left in him and not only for Trinidad and Tobago.

© The Barbados Nation