Brian Lara returns to the gaming crease

Codemasters has signed a deal with West Indian cricket captain Brian Lara as it plans to return its cricketing series to store shelves after a five-year hiatus. Brian Lara International Cricket is now due out on PS2, Xbox and PC in summer 2005.

Co-developed by Codemasters and Swordfish Studios, the game will feature major international cricket in One Day, Tests and Tournaments, and hopefully will fare a bit better than Lara's cricketing side did in the recent Test series against England.

Lara's confident though. "It's great to be back working with Codemasters again," he said. "I've always been proud of my association with the games - I'm often asked if a new one was coming. Codemasters always does a great job in capturing the essence of cricket and I know they've brought me, and the sport in general, a whole lot of new supporters."

Expect to hear more detail on Brian Lara International Cricket in the near future. For now, we're a bit stumped. [And fired -Ed]