What is the way to play cricket for the national side of the team? First-class or List-A cricket are the two roads which have given the many greats of the game. Some succeed in that while some were destined too but very few have a story like Brian Lara, who dominated world cricket at the times when it was ruled by the bowlers. In the year 1987, Brian Lara while playing for Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies Youth Championships surpassed the record of 480 runs by Carl Hopper after scoring 498 runs and helped his side to lift the championship. The date was 22nd January, 1988 when made his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago against Leeward Islands.
“I would pay to watch Brian Lara” — Rahul Dravid
After failing to score runs in the first test match, Brian Lara made the brilliant 92 runs in his second test match against Barbados team who had the likes of Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall. For the next two years, Lara played first-class cricket for Trinidad and Tobago. In the 261 first-class games, Brian Lara scored 22,156 runs at an average of 51.88 with 65 centuries and 88 half-centuries and the career best score of 501* in first-class cricket. In 1990, Brian Lara made his test debut against Pakistan and ODI debut against Pakistan in the same year.
Here is the first double hundred of Brian Lara against Australia at Sydney –
“I have never seen a batsman play spin and medium-pace better than Lara” — Michael Holding
For the next almost two decades, world cricket witnessed Brian Lara dominance over cricket alongside Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting. It was the year 1994, Brian Lara took the stage and registered the career best score of 375 against England at Antigua. Although this record was later surpassed by Australian opener Mathew Hayden, when he scored 381 against Zimbabwe in 2003. But within a year, Brian Lara became the first player to score 400* against the same opposition he scored his previous best score in test cricket history.
Here is the 400* runs innings of Brian Lara -
“Tendulkar has all the records, but Brian Lara is better” — Muttiah Muralitharan
In the test cricket history, Lara is the third batsman with most double hundreds (9). But as a captain, Lara has the most double hundreds in the history (5). In the 299 ODIs, Lara scored 10405 runs at an average of 40.48 with 19 centuries and 63 half-centuries while in the 131 tests, Lara scored 11953 runs at an average of 52.88 with 34 centuries and 48 half-centuries.
Here is the another double hundred against the most complete Australian team in their history of cricket – Lara makes history with 226 in Adelaide
“Lara basically had the weight of that whole team on his shoulders for the best part of 10 years now and had to carry their batting and win them games almost by himself. That sort of pressure going into every game, for him to be able to stand up and perform is something that should never be overlooked” — Ricky Ponting
