Cricket: Champions Trophy: Lara Shaken But Stirred for Final Flourish

It was all a bit of a fast bowler's joke at the time but, as Brian Lara lay dazed on the pitch, the words of Shoaib Akhtar must have felt a little more sinister. "I'm going to kill you," he had said with a smile as the West Indies captain walked out to bat.

One 92mph Exocet on to the back of Lara's neck later and the ground held its breath. The Trinidadian spent two minutes lying flat on his back while he received treatment before clambering to his feet and groggily retiring hurt.

He will almost certainly be fit for Saturday's Champions Trophy final against England at The Oval but for a few moments his participation looked as questionable as the Rose Bowl pitch.

"The way he reacted and fell to the ground I thought he had broken his jaw," said West Indies' vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was at the other end when Lara was struck.

"I asked Brian what Shoaib said to him when he walked out to bat and he said, 'He said he was going to kill me', or something like that. I think they were joking around."

Lara had batted beautifully for 31 from 30 balls, when he tried to get out of the way of a bouncer from the man nicknamed the Rawalpindi Express, only to absorb the full force of the delivery beneath the back of his helmet and collapse to the ground.

"I'm sorry I hit him but it was honest bowling," said Shoaib, who along with the rest of the Pakistan side rushed straight to Lara the moment the ball hit him. "He is one of my favourite batsmen. I've played four series against West Indies but I've not had the chance to bowl to him since the start of my Test career."

West Indies were coasting along at 76 for two in the 15th over in pursuit of Pakistan's feeble 131 when Lara was felled. "He said he wanted to continue," said Sarwan. "But he said he was feeling dizzy and I said he should go off and see how he was."

That Lara was not required for some 11th-hour heroics was down to another man-of-the-match performance from Sarwan, who added an unbeaten 56 to his match-winning 75 against South Africa last Saturday.

Sarwan expressed surprise that Inzamam-ul-Haq had decided to bat first, saying it played right into West Indies' hands. He was not the only one. In the previous 13 games in this competition, the captain winning the toss had decided to bowl on 12 occasions. On the 13th the joke was that Bangladesh's Rajin Saleh simply got in a muddle because his English is so poor.

There was less good news for another captain, meanwhile, when it emerged yesterday that Ricky Ponting is likely to miss the first Test against India, starting in Bangalore on October 6, after breaking his left thumb while fielding in the slips during Australia's six-wicket defeat by England at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

"The India series means so much to us all," said Ponting, who is hoping to be fit in time for the second Test, which begins in Chennai on October 16. "It could be one of the biggest Test series ever played, so to be missing the start of it is really disappointing."

Two arrests were made at the Rose Bowl yesterday after minor disturbances in the crowd. They are believed to have been the result of antagonism between rival fans and police intervened after a scuffle broke out. Extra officers and police dogs had to be called in to calm down supporters.