Lara lined up for Surrey comeback

Surrey have confirmed they are in talks with Brian Lara in a bid to lure him out of retirement to play Twenty20 for them this season. Lara, who retired from international cricket after the 2007 World Cup, has not played competitively for two years.

"We have been in discussion with Brian regarding his possible involvement with the club," a Surrey spokesman told the BBC. "However we have no further comment to make at this stage."

Lara has already been in the nets at The Oval this week and has had talks with Surrey's cricket manager Chris Adams and chief executive Paul Sheldon.

The Indian press recently speculated Lara was planning a comeback there. A deal was said to be done with the Kochi franchise which joins the IPL next season, but nothing came of that.

Retirement has not come easy to Lara, and he has hinted he could be lured back several times. Last year he said of Twenty20: "I believe that at some point in time people are going to understand that they are tactical ways of playing it and then you are going to see the true talent come out."

Lara had a stint with the unofficial ICL in 2007-08, where he had a forgettable tournament with the bat and as captain of Mumbai Champs.

Surrey already have Andrew Symonds, the Australian all-rounder, registered for the domestic English Twenty20 competition, and - depending on his national commitments - Piyush Chawla, the Indian legspinner. The rules permit counties to enlist four overseas players in all for the tournament, with a maximum of two featuring in a single game.