Brian Charles Lara, TC, OCC, AM (born 2 May 1969) is a former Trinidadian international cricket player.[1][2] He is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest cricketers of all-time.[3][4][5] He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out forWarwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994, which is the only quintuple hundred in first-class cricket history.[6]
Lara also holds the record for the highest individual score in a Test innings after scoring 400 not out against England atAntigua in 2004.[7] He is the only batsman to have ever scored a hundred, a double century, a triple century, a quadruple century and a quintuple century in first class games over the course of a senior career.[8][9] Lara also shares the test record of scoring the highest number of runs in a single over in a Test match, when he scored 28 runs off an over by Robin Peterson of South Africa in 2003 (George Bailey achieved this in 2013 against England off of the bowling of James Anderson).[10]
Lara's match-winning performance of 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1999 has been rated by Wisdenas the second best batting performance in the history of Test cricket, next only to the 270 runs scored by Sir Donald Bradmanin The Ashes Test match of 1937.[11] Muttiah Muralitharan, rated as the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack,[12] and the highest wicket-taker in both Test cricket[13] and in One Day Internationals (ODIs),[14] has hailed Lara as his toughest opponent among all batsmen in the world.[15] Lara was awarded the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World awards in 1994 and 1995[16] and is also one of only three cricketers to receive the prestigious BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, the other two being Sir Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne.[17]
Brian Lara shows how to swing a bat on 19 April 2009.
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| Full name | Brian Charles Lara | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 May 1969 Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Princey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Left-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right-arm leg break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | http://bclara.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 196) | 6 December 1990 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 27 November 2006 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 59) | 9 November 1990 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 21 April 2007 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI shirt no. | 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1987–2008 | Trinidad and Tobago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Transvaal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1998 | Warwickshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Southern Rocks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Brian Lara was appointed honorary member of the Order of Australia on 27 November 2009.[18] On 14 September 2012 he was inducted to the ICC's Hall of Fame at the awards ceremony held in Colombo, Sri Lanka as a 2012–13 season inductee along with Australians Glenn McGrath and former England women all-rounder Enid Bakewell.[19][20] In 2013, Lara received Honorary Life Membership of the MCC becoming the 31st West Indian to receive the honor.[21]
Brian Lara is popularly nicknamed as "The Prince of Port of Spain" or simply "The Prince".[22] He has the dubious distinction of playing in second highest number of test matches (63) in which his team was on losing side, just behind Shivnarine Chanderpaul (68).
International career[edit]
In January 1993, Lara scored 277 versus Australia in Sydney. This, his maiden Test century in his fifth Test, was the turning point of the series as West Indies won the final two Tests to win the series 2–1. Lara went on to name his daughter Sydney after scoring 277 at SCG.
| Lara's results in international matches[25] | ||||||
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| Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn | Tied | No result | |
| Test[26] | 131 | 32 | 63 | 36 | 0 | – |
| ODI[27] | 299 | 139 | 144 | – | 3 | 13 |
Lara holds several world records for high scoring. He has the highest individual score in both first-class cricket (501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994) and Test cricket (400 not out for the West Indies against England in 2004). Lara amassed his world record 501 in 474 minutes off only 427 balls. He hit 308 in boundaries (10 sixes and 62 fours). His partners were Roger Twose (115 partnership – 2nd wicket),Trevor Penney (314 – 3rd), Paul Smith (51 – 4th) and Keith Piper (322 unbroken – 5th). Earlier in that season Lara scored six centuries in seven innings while playing for Warwickshire.
He is the only man to have reclaimed the Test record score, having scored 375 against England in 1994, a record that stood untilMatthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003. His 400 not out also made him the second player after Donald Bradman to score two Test triple-centuries, and the second after Bill Ponsford to score two first-class quadruple-centuries. He has scored nine double centuries in Test cricket, third after Bradman's twelve and Kumar Sangakkara's eleven. In 1995 Lara in the Test match away series against England, scored 3 hundreds in Three consecutive Matches which earned him the Man of the Series award. The Test Series was eventually drawn 2–2. He also held the record for the highest total number of runs in a Test career, after overtaking Allan Borderin an innings of 226 played at Adelaide Oval, Australia in November 2005. This would be later broken by Sachin Tendulkar of India on 17 October 2008 whilst playing against Australia at Mohali in the 2nd Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008.
Lara captained the West Indies from 1998 to 1999, when West Indies suffered their first whitewash at the hands of South Africa. Following this they played Australia in a four-Test series which was drawn 2–2, with Lara scoring 546 runs including three centuries and one double hundred. In the second Test at Kingston he scored 213 while in the third Test he scored 153* in the second innings as West Indies chased down 311 with one wicket left. He won the Man of the Match award for both matches and was also named Man of the Series.
The Wisden 100 rates Lara's 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown in 1998–99 as the second best innings ever after Sir Donald Bradman's 270 against England in Melbourne in 1936–37.
In 2001 Lara was named the Man of the Carlton Series in Australia with an average of 46.50, the highest average by a West Indian in that series, scoring two half centuries and one century, 116 against Australia. That same year Lara amassed 688 runs in the three match away Test series against Sri Lanka making three centuries, and one fifty – including the double century and a century in the first and second innings of the 3rd Test Match at the Sinhalese Sports Ground, equating to 42% of the team's runs in that series. These extraordinary performances led Muttiah Muralitharan to state that Lara was the most dangerous batsman he had ever bowled to.[28]
Lara was reappointed as captain against the touring Australians in 2003, and struck 110 in his first Test match back in charge, showing a return to stellar performance. Later that season, under his captaincy, West Indies won the two match Test series against Sri Lanka 1–0 with Lara making a double century in the First Test. In September 2004, West Indies won the ICC Champions Trophy in England under his captaincy.
In March 2005, Lara declined selection for the West Indies team because of a dispute over his personal Cable & Wireless sponsorship deal, which clashed with the Cricket Board's main sponsor, Digicel. Six other players were involved in this dispute, including stars Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo. Lara said he declined selection in a stand of solidarity, when these players were dropped because of their sponsorship deals.[29] The issue was resolved after the first Test of the series against the touring South African team.
Lara returned to the team for the second Test (and scored a huge first innings score of 196), but in the process lost his captaincy indefinitely to the newly appointed Shivnarine Chanderpaul. In the next Test, against the same opponents, he scored a 176 in the first innings. After a one-day series against South Africa, he scored his first Test century against the visiting Pakistanis in the first Test at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados which the West Indies eventually won.
On 26 April 2006 Lara was reappointed the captain of the West Indies cricket team for the third time. This followed the resignation of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had been captain for thirteen months – in which the West Indies won just one of the 14 Test matches they had competed. In May 2006, Lara led the West Indies to successful One-Day series victories against Zimbabwe and India. Lara's team played Australia in the finals of the DLF Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy where they finished runners up in both finals.
On 16 December 2006 he became the first player for the West Indies to pass 10,000 One Day International runs.[30] along with Sachin Tendulkar one of only two players, at the time, to do so in both forms of the game. On 10 April 2007 Lara confirmed his retirement from one day cricket post the 2007 Cricket World Cup.[31] A few days later he announced that he would in fact be retiring from all international cricket after the tournament.[32]
Lara played his final international game on 21 April 2007 in a dead rubber World Cup game against England. He was run out for 18 after a mix up with Marlon Samuels; England won the game by 1 wicket. Before the end of this World Cup Glenn McGrath stated that Lara is the greatest batsman that he has ever bowled to.
Source: Wikipedia
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