Brian Lara

November 16, 2007

Brian Charles Lara, the Prince, has been a phenomenon in himself that took the cricketing world by storm in the last decade. Born on May 2, 1969, this natural stroke maker was the second youngest in a family of 11 children growing up in Cantaro, a small village a few kilometers north of Port of Spain. The son that Trinidad is now proud of grew up with no luxuries that kids take for granted nowadays but he was blessed with caring parents, who put him on the right track to take advantage of his enormous talent.

Brian’s friends were wary of playing with him as he would never get out once he got hold of the bat. So he used to play by himself with broomstick and marbles, using flower pots for fielders. He devised his own England vs West Indies tests. His sister enrolled him for coaching classes when he was six and drove him daily to Harvard Clinic in Port of Spain. Money was in short supply but still his father made every effort to buy him the gear he needed for school and regional matches and also drove him around Trinidad to all the match venues. Brian idolised Roy Fredericks whom he had seen bat and convinced his father to buy him long sleeved white shirt to button at the wrist so he could imitate his hero.

His career prospered in Fatima College. In 1988, he was picked for Trinidad and Tobago. Lara was out second ball in his first match, dismissed by Malcolm Marshall who was playing for Barbados. He came back in the second match, scoring 92 runs after batting nearly six hours. The same year he was the captain of the under23 squad who were to play the visiting Pakistanis. Lara was picked in the squad of 12 to play against India in the national team in April1989 but was made the twelfth man. At the end of the first day came the news of the demise of his father who had suffered a heart attack. He could never get ot see his son play. Lara eventually made his test debut against Pakistan in December 1990 scoring 44 and 5. But the next time he was picked was sixteen months later against South Africa. nine months later Brian Lara played an unforgettable innings against Australia in Sydney. He teamed up with the captain Richie Richardson to salvage the situation after West Indian top order had been dismissed by the Aussies. Lara scored 277 runs and would have made more had he not been run out. His destructive batting was a delight to watch. It was a privilege to watch him bat from the non striker’s end, admitted Richardson. West Indies drew the test and went on to win the series.

In April 1994 he played the memorable knock of 375 against England, surpassing Sir Gary Sobers as the highest run scorer in a test innings. The Trinidad government gave him some land on which he built his house, and the highest honor of the island, the Trinity Cross. The telephone company gave him 375 minutes of free calls; a street was named after him. Two months later playing for his county side Warwickshire, he broke another record that of highest runs in first class cricket by hitting 501 not out.

Lara had a long lean spell and came under the spotlight of criticism for not only his batting but his captaincy and attitude. Lara came back in 1998-99 when he single handedly save his team against an Aussie onslaught with scores of 213,8,153 not out and 100. In 2001-02 series against Sri Lanka, he scored 688 runs which included 221 and 130 in one test. He made a record by scoring 42% of the teamâ€™s total runs in the series. Lara went past Allan Border’s 111174 runs in 2005 to become test cricket’s highest scorer. Also he is the only batsman to recover his batting record in tests. Hayden had scored 380 against Zimbabwe. Lara broke the record the same year against England by getting 400 runs in an innings. No one ever made such massive scores so many times and at such a pace. He is indeed one of the players of the century, a living legend.

Brian Lara

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