da brwin： Brian Lara’s chances of regaining fitness in time for West Indies tour ofPakistan looked slim on Tuesday morning after a hairline fracture wasdiscovered in his elbow
CricInfo18-Dec-2001Brian Lara’s chances of regaining fitness in time for West Indies tour ofPakistan looked slim on Tuesday morning after a hairline fracture wasdiscovered in his elbow.The star left-hander had dislocated his elbow in a collision with MarvanAtapattu whilst batting on Saturday in Kandy.Initial x-rays – taken in Kandy, contrary to false reports that said he wasairlifted to Colombo – allayed fears of a fracture and Lara was expected tobe sidelined for 4-6 weeks.But on Monday the left-arm started swelling and Lara was taken off for asecond batch of x-rays in Colombo, which revealed the hairline fracture inhis elbow joint.”It was always our intention to seek a second opinion upon our return toColombo and it has now been diagnosed that there is definitely a hairlinefracture at the elbow joint,” team manager Ricky Skerritt confirmed.Skerritt expects the fracture to prolong his recovery period and jeopardisehis chances of touring Pakistan, if the West Indies Cricket Board give thego-ahead to the tour scheduled to start at the end of January.”After resetting the cast around the repaired joint, it is now suggestedthat Lara would be out of cricket for much longer than was at first thought,for an extra two weeks and for no less than six weeks in all, perhapslonger, depending on healing.””Brian will be having yet another MRI examination on Tuesday afternoon toconfirm all this, plus to see what progress in the healing process has beeneffected.”What this means is that Brian Lara is effectively ruled out of the nextscheduled West Indies tour of Pakistan, if and when, that takes place.”Lara was to stay with the team during the remaining days of the tour but hehas now been booked on an early direct flight to London before West Indiestake on Sri Lanka in the final of the LG Abans tri-series on Wednesdayafternoon.