Brian Lara spoke with great pride in his players as he reflected on the West Indies' stunning – and improbable – victory over England at The Oval.

Lara has been around too long and seen too much water flow under his own bridge to get carried away with a single result, even one that brought the West Indies their first major one-day trophy since their second World Cup win in 1979.

But Lara, who has battled through repeated calls for him to be relieved of the captaincy for most of this year, could not hide the pleasure and pride he felt at his side's remarkable achievement.

"In 1975 when we won the World Cup, it began our great days in both Tests and one-day cricket," he said after watching Barbados teammates Ian Bradshaw and Courtney Browne engineer a 71-run stand for the ninth wicket to see the West Indies home in the gathering gloom.

"I hope it's the foundation of another beginning," he added, with thoughts turning to the ongoing search for new talent from the Caribbean islands.

And he couldn't contain the satisfaction he felt after being on the receiving end of multiple pummellings from Michael Vaughan's side during the past eight months.

"There have been many personal highs in my career - the one-run win in Adelaide, the win over South Africa in 1992," he said. "But in terms of the battering we have received from everyone in the past few months and then doing it against England, who smashed us in seven of the eight Tests, is pretty special."

And on the West Indies' unlikely batting saviours Lara said: "It's been great for them since I don't think I have seen Ian [Bradshaw] bat even in the nets. The thing to remember is that both of them are from Barbados and have played together for many seasons. Both of them are very experienced. This is the thing about this side - experience. We brought in quite a few senior players for this tournament and it has made a difference."

Bradshaw, who picked up two wickets in England's innings before his starring role with the bat, described it as the biggest moment of his life. "I just wanted to support Courtney," said Bradshaw, who has captained Barbados and the West Indies u19 team. "When the light was offered to us, I didn't want to go out since we had the momentum. I spoke to Courtney and he said the same."

27 Sep, 2004