Lara deal good marketing

It seems that Brian Lara might be about to sign for Surrey for Twenty20 which is an interesting move. There's no doubt he was a great batsman, as this Lara video shows on the BBC site (although the right-handed shot is an editing error - he didn't also bat right handed!), but will he come good at the Oval? Well it may not matter - I bet the marketing men there have worked out that those of West Indian extraction around Kensington will instantly be engaged by this signing.

Whether he'll be successful is open to question and I would argue he'll struggle to ever play ahead of an athlete and true all-rounder like Andrew Symonds. But he might just still have it, and his penchant for going arial could work on what last season were some pretty small boundaries when they brought the ropes right in for Twenty20 (but where would he field?). Either way, Surrey will see it as a risk worth taking....