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Brian Lara:
Human barometer of West Indian Cricket
By A. C. De Silva
Think of a smile, in cricket: Brian Lara. Who else? Born on May 2nd
1969 at Santa Cruz, Trinidad, Lara - a genius and was, in essence, the
human barometre of West Indian cricket after his predecessors from
Learie Constantine, George Headley, the three W's, Sobers, Kanhai, Clive
Lloyd, Alvin Kallicharran, Vivian Richards to Gorden Greenidge, and
Desmond Haynes.
  Yes, Lara has something of the Kallicharan finesse in his batting. At
5 feet 8 inches, he has a gigantic appetite to destroy any attack to
pieces, with surgical precision. Lara is, the game's most bejewelled
talent.
An eniga too, Lara's one of a kind. He drives, cuts, pulls, hooks and
plays every shot in the book with feline grace and felicity. His
attacking strokes often reach the target with eager an instinctive
skill.
When he pulls, or even his a cross - batted shot, there's nothing
ugly with its execution. His cover drives scorch through, evading
fielders with embarrassing ease.
Not for Lara, the 'waiting' game. Mastery of bowling is everything to
him. He bats in the manner of a cricketing angel. Not with his pads, but
with his resounding willow.
Lara captures attention soon
Whether you love him or hate him, Lara was a bloke who captured one's
attention straightaway. He was an awesome player to watch when on song,
with his high back lift and his all-round presence at the crease. Speed
or spin, swing or turn, made no difference. He whacked them all
peerlessly.
The first time he made a real mark on Australia was at Sydney in 1993
when he was still trying to earn a regular place in the team. He
dominated partnership after partnership to the point where Aussies'
Shane Warne spoke to Allan Border half jockingly, that they were bowling
for a run-out.
In the end that is how the Aussies got him, but not before a great
277 and a career had been blasted into motion.
All the previews of the game suggested that the pitch would turn but
there wasn't a lot of joy for either Greg Mathews or Shane Warne.
Brian Lara became a good friend of Australian Shane Warne. Lara liked
to come to Australia and Lara helped in Warne's charity the Shane Warne
Foundation.
In fact, in 2007 Warne had the pleasure of playing with Lara in the
All Stars team at the Hong Kong Sixes. Warne and company had a pile of
fun.
Lara 501 not out - highest individual score
Brian Charles Lara being the top cricketer that he is, topped the
Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing
records.
He holds the highest individual score of 501 not out for warwickshire
against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994 that season in first-class cricket.
His highest in Test 400 not out and 169 in ODI.
The 5 ft 8 inches in height left-hand
batting star made his Test debut on Dec 6th 1990 against Pakistan and
his ODI debut earlier also against Pakistan on 6th Nov. 1990.
Lara scored 28 runs in one over
Lara also holds the Test record of scoring most number of runs in a
single over in a Testmatch, when he scored 28 runs off an over by Robin
Peterson of South Africa in 2003.
The former West Indies captain Lara had a knock of 400 not out
against England in Antigua in 2004 and it is the highest score in Test
history, surpassing Matthew Hayden's 380 for Australia against Zimbabwe
in Perth in October 2003.
Lara had already broken fellow countryman Sir Garfield Sobers'
36-year-long record of 365 not out with a knock of 375, also against
England in Antigua in 1994.
He also holds the record for the highest score in first class
cricket. |
