COUNTY Durham model Lynnsey Ward has bowled over Test cricket's greatest living batsman.
The 18-year-old met West Indies opener Brian Lara last April when working as a receptionist at Durham County Cricket Club's Chester-le-Street ground.
According to her mother, Claire, it was love at first sight and the pair have become inseparable.
However, Lynnsey's presence at the 31-year-old's side on the West Indies' current tour of Australia is causing controversy. Critics say allowing her to stay in the team's hotels is evidence of one rule for Lara and another for his team-mates.
Lynnsey, originally from Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, became a model at 17 and was voted Millennium Babe by one tabloid newspaper.
She has moved to London and has been pictured in the past with Formula One playboy Eddie Irvine and members of the England football team at an Esquire magazine party. She appeared on the catwalk at an Elton John charity show.
Lara, holder of the world record test and first-class scores, was bowled out for a duck in the first test of the Australian tour, in Brisbane.
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