Prince of Trinidad

Cricket lovers would know that the "Prince of Trinidad" is none other than the greatest test player to have graced the cricket field and an equally good player in the other format (ODIs) too, a player who could alter the situation of the game in no time... The name is Brian Charles Lara...

Brian Lara, 10th of the 11 children of his father, learnt his game at the Harvard Coaching Clinic, where he was enrolled at the age of six for weekly coaching classes.. Aged 14, he amassed 745 runs in the schoolboys' league, with an average of 126.16, which earned him selection for the Trinidad national under-16 team. A year later he played in his first West Indian under 19 youth tournament and that same year, Lara represented West Indies in Under-19 cricket. Aged 20, he made his debut for west-indies against Pakistan.. There are very few players who have scored the BIG ones as frequently and as convincingly as the DON, but hey this Prince is not that far behind in any respect..

Lara showed his talent in his 5th Test,-1993 striking 277 runs against Australia in Sydney, his maiden Test century. It remains the fourth highest maiden Test century by any batsman.. Year 1994, home series against England saw one of his best performances.. 167 in Georgetown,Guyana sets up the series as West-Indies win by an innings 2-0 lead.. Going into the 5th match of the series WI have won the series 3-1, St.John's. Antigua recreation ground are to witness a great event unfolding. Finishes day1 on 164 and day2 on 320.. Day 3, 45runs more to beat Sir Gary Sobers world record of 365 runs.. Bats brilliantly to end up on 375, the then world record for highest test score with a staggering 45 fours in it.. In the same year, Lara broke the record for the highest individual score in first class matches by scoring 501* for warwickshire vs durham in the english county games, surpassing the previous best of 499 out.. Lara amassed his world record 501 in 474 minutes off only 427 balls. He hit 308 in boundaries (10 sixes and 62 fours).. A rising star........



Runs piled, centuries after centuries.. Late 90s saw a dip in his form, his high back lift proved his nemesis time and again.. He was the captain now 1998.. WI saw series whitewash, tasted what they were giving others all the while.. Tour of AUS was very good-Man of the series in the Carlton series..Excess weight and hamstring problems hampered his once-lightning footwork, and the torrent of runs became an occasional spurt., corrected his back lift .. 2001 was different though, tour of Srilanka- one of the best in my eyes.. He along with Sarwan notched up big centuries against the spin wizards in their backyard.. Lara amassed 688 runs in the three match away Test series against Sri Lanka making three centuries and one fifty including a double century and a century in the first and second innings of the 3rd Test Match at the Sinhalese Sports Ground making 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 faced.. Re appointed the captain in 2003 against AUS home series, highlight of the tour being the succesful run chase of 418 by WI in the 4th test.. WI won the ICC champions trophy under him in 2004..


Controversies are a part of all celebrities life-

• There was a clash between the Board's Sponsorship Digicel and Brian Lara's personal sponsorship which is Cable and Wireless.. Board selected Brian Lara and dropped the other players who were involved in this controversy but he declined selection in a stand of solidarity.. 
• In the later half of his career he started batting at number 5 and 6 . Many experts from all over the world wanted Brian Lara to bat up the order and take more responsibility and had questioned lara's wisdom to do so..
• Complaint that Lara did not contact the selection committee in picking the playing 11 team in the world cup 2007 matches..

Have I missed something ?? Well, yesss !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They say history repeats itself, but not to this extent... Same opponent, same ground, 10years later..................
Mathew Hayden had shortly held the record for the highest individual score (380 against Zimbabwe).. Lara comes back and scores a quadruple century.. Batting for 778 mins, 43 fours and 4 sixes in one of the epic innings of cricket.. Commentator- " One of the most significant singles in the history of test cricket." Goes from 399* to 400*



Watch this- the single


He announced before the 2007 Cricket World Cup that it would be his last appearance in one day internationals. After his last match, in the post-game presentation interview, he asked the fans, "Did I entertain?", to which he received a resounding "Yes!" from the West Indies fans, after which he went out and took his 'lap of honor' where he met and shook hands with many of the fans. This marked the last time Lara would play actively in the game.

34 test centuries to his name, 11953 Runs, averages 53 per innings, an average that shoots upto 61 in wins and 71 in drawn matches.. An ODI career with 10405 runs, 19 centuries isn't that far behind.. Averages speak volumes, 62 in matches won to 25 in matches lost.. Remarkably, 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 his career. Lara also holds the test record of scoring most number of runs in a single over, when he scored 28 runs off an over by Robin Peterson of South Africa in 2003. Even his stance was thrilling - a look down at the pitch, the bat raised high in the air, the weight poised on a bent front knee, the eyes low and level, a quick shuffle across the wickets and BANG he would send the ball flashing to the boundary.. Arguably, the greatest test cricketer ever to have played second only to the DON(12) in terms of double centuries ( lara 9) and equal to him in triple centuries(2).

Brian Charles Lara is truly a cricket legend, hero of the West Indian cricket.. The Prince had not disappointed us in his entire career.. The BEST !!!!!!!!