Quotes from Brian Lara

I'm not much of a sports fan.

It's a cliche that cricket is the only unifying force in the Caribbean. It is but there are a lot of other factors that keep us apart. Success in sport and war will always unite but you need to have a greater foundation and greater core.

I've had many ups and downs in my career. I've worked really hard on my game throughout.

I had some bad influences in my time and, if my parents weren't there to straighten me out, things might have gone haywire.

When I get to a ripe old age then talk of me as a great cricketer.

If there's one thing I don't have, it's an insular bone.

My brother shaved a cricket bat out of a coconut branch... we played cricket with anything we put our hands on - a hard orange, a lime, a marble - anything we could use in the backyard or the streets.

I had to work hard... but I knew I had strong support.

I feel as if I was to strike on one thing that I was decent at was mentally where I prepared myself strongly.

People want sport that they can go on an afternoon and watch with their kids.

MS Dhoni is an asset in any team he plays for.

Records are made to be broken. It's great when they are broken by attacking players.

I grew up at a time when West Indies dominated the world. For 15 years from 1980, the West Indies never lost a Test series.

I really enjoyed the period in which I played my cricket. I can look back now and wish I started 10 years later and played in the T20s. But I also wish I was born 10 years earlier so that I could have been part of the all-conquering West Indies team of that time.

Getting into your 30s, you don't feel the same as in your early 20s.

I believe cricket is a harder game. If at age six you started both sports you'd excel at golf more.

I want to leave a nice legacy.