‘A stroke of genius’- A phrase that perfectly describes the charismatic Brian Lara who in 15 years has effortlessly set and reset records galore while keeping the cricket lovers spellbound by taking the art of batsmanship to dizzy heights.
Brian Lara was always destined to be a great batsman even before he was picked for the test series against Pakistan in 1991. He had scored heavily in the domestic competition and his talent was spotted by the great Michael Holding who remarked that Lara must be picked first and then the remaining 10 players.
Living up to the enormous hype and huge expectations of the fans was never going to be an easy task even for a short period of time, let alone for more than a decade, but the Prince from Trinidad has done all this and more in a manner others can only dream of.
Hailing from the W.I, Lara had the huge burden of constantly being compared with his illustrious peers which included the incomparable Sir Garry Sobers and perhaps the most destructive batsman to have played the game in Viv Richards whom he actually replaced after the former retired. Like Sir Garry Sobers, Lara took some time to score his first century, but when it finally came in his 6th test, it was an unforgettable knock drawing comparisons with Sobers’s brilliant 365 against Pakistan.
West Indies were playing Australia in what was regarded as the unofficial World Test Championship. The W.I team was still a good team but the juggernaut image seemed a thing of the past. Australia, under Border had taken a 1-0 lead going into the Sydney test and with 3 matches to go it was going to be an uphill task for the tourists. The difficulties were compounded further when the Aussies amassed 503 in their 1st innings. In reply the W.I were tottering after the loss of a couple of early wickets and with the wicket aiding turn, facing Shane Warne wasn’t going to be easy. Lara, with Richie Richardson for company proceeded to score a stupendous 277 showcasing his entire repertoire of strokes. He was finally run out which seemed to be the only way he could have been dismissed, but not before the W.I scored 606 and earned a creditable draw. They went on to win the series including the triumph at Adelaide in a thriller with Lara making a crucial contribution. This was only a sample of the things to follow.
The summer of 1994 was marked by England’s visit to the Caribbean. Lara at his sumptuous best treated the England bowling with disdain and in the final test at Antigua, he scored a world record score of 375 out of a team score of 591 in the process surpassing the legendary Sobers. The innings was chanceless and was characterised by delicate late cuts, scorching drives, rasping cut shots and murderous pulls including one to claim the record.
If one thought this was the pinnacle of his career and that these achievements couldn’t be bettered, they were proved completely wrong. In a glittering first class season for Warwickshire he proceeded to score 7 centuries in 8 innings in an almost Bradmanesque fashion. This fascinating run culminated in a mammoth 501 n.o against an unfortunate Durham side thus resulting in him becoming the highest individual scorer in first class innings going past Hanif Mohammed’s 499.
Lara was magnificent during 1995 especially against England for whom he always reserved special treatment. He scored 3 centuries in the series thus firmly establishing him as the greatest batsman playing then. His career had till then been a near perfect one but then the excessive adulation of fans, overbearing expectations and pressure got to him and lead to a loss of form which resulted in the W.I relinquishing the Frank Worrell trophy to the Aussies under Mark Taylor. This was the beginning of the end of West Indian domination and this was clearly very disappointing to him.
Lara was equally brilliant in the shorter version of the game and had the unique ability to come up with crucial knocks like the one in the finals against Pakistan in Sharjah and none more vital than the century in the 1996 world cup quarter finals against South Africa. This was one of the most brilliant comebacks as earlier in the tournament West Indian cricket had reached its nadir in their shocking defeat at the hands of lowly Kenya. The team had to incur the wrath of its supporters and the harsh criticism of former players. Lara decided to respond in style and though he began shakily taking about 22 balls to get his first boundary, he was soon in his elements taking apart the famed S.A attack and went on to score a brilliant 111 leading his team to victory. This innings was full of strokes characterised by his customary flair and unmatched elegance.
'There is no genius where there is no flaw'- This adage seemed to be the very description of Lara’s career. He astonished everyone with his magical batting one day and then suddenly he seemed completely unconcerned and aloof. He was going through a trough in his personal form and the team which almost solely depended on his batting was in the doldrums. He decided that he should take a break which would be beneficial to him and the team and thus went through a 4 month self imposed exile. He then returned from his layoff and continued to score runs consistently but the team’s fortunes plummeted continually.
It was the 1998-99 season and Steve Waugh’s rampant Aussie team visited the Caribbean supremely confident that they could retain the Frank Worrell trophy without breaking a sweat as they were up against one of the weakest West Indian teams. The series began at Lara’s hometown in Port of Spain. The hosts were skittled out for 51 and lost by a massive margin of over 350 runs. The entire team and especially Lara were subjected to all kinds of criticism and the morale was at an all time low.
What followed was almost beyond belief. Lara decided to take the Aussies on all by himself and proceeded to score a fantastic 213 at Kingston and the W.I leveled the series at 1-1. The series moved to Barbados and after an evenly contested 3-4 days, W.I were set an arduous task of scoring 309 against the quality Aussie attack. They were staring down the barrel at 105/5 when Jimmy Adams joined Lara. Lara unleashed all his trademark classical strokes and combining them with his twinkling footwork kept the W.I in the hunt. But as was the case with the brittle W.I middle order often, they collapsed to 240/8 leaving Lara only the tailenders in Ambrose and Walsh for company, not exactly an inspiring situation.
The Aussies felt they had the match in the bag. But Lara had other ideas and in a thrill a minute partnership with Ambrose with the latter stoically holding ground he added a vital 50 odd runs when suddenly Ambrose was dismissed. Courtney Walsh walked in and almost all hope was lost as he had to face Gillespie who was bowling beautifully. But in one of the most hilarious yet effective efforts, he managed to stave off the bowling of Gillespie and Glenn Mcgrath. Lara meanwhile hammered a couple of boundaries and finally with a scorching drive off Gillespie, finished on 153 n.o and managed to pull off an improbable win. The cricketing world rose in unison to applaud the left handed maestro’s Herculean efforts in single handedly restoring his team’s dwindling fortunes and salvaging the pride of a rich cricket tradition.
Lara was not yet finished in the series. In Antigua, he raced to a quite breathtaking 100 off 84 balls caning the famed Aussie bowling though Australia managed to square the series. These awe-inspiring performances of Lara were rightly given due recognition by Wisden and the 153 was voted the 2nd best innings of all time.
As was the case with his career so often a high was followed by a grey patch. He had a run of poor scores and the team was hammered 5-0 by Australia and S.A. He decided to take moral responsibility for the debacle and resigned as captain.
In 2001, W.I visited Sri Lanka and were drubbed 3-0. But this in no way reflected Lara’s superhuman effort in the series. He single handedly took on the Lankan attack which included the off spin wizard Muralitharan and amassed a monumental 688 runs in 3 tests including 3 hundreds and a 200. He alone accounted for 42% of the team’s runs and this clearly showed that Lara was truly the best and this was testified by Murali.
A relatively ordinary couple of years followed though he did make some sizable scores during the period. In 2004 against England at Antigua, he waded into the attack and scored a mind boggling 400 in a single innings overtaking Matthew Hayden’s 380 to reclaim the world record exactly 10 years after he had scored the 375 at the same venue. He had a fantastic series against S.A and Pakistan making 4 hundreds in the process. He also has 5 hundreds in 2005 which has firmly placed him in the pantheon of all time greats. Recently in the 3rd test against Australia, he scored a magnificent 226 and went past Allan Border as the highest run getter in the history of the game which was just another record in his glittering career. He later modestly said that it was a reward for his long service he had rendered to W.I cricket.
Inevitably any game always involves comparisons with contemporary stars and past greats and cricket is certainly no exception. Lara may not have the remarkable consistency of Don Bradman , the natural gifts that Sobers possessed or the swagger and presence of Viv Richards. He may not have the fan following nor the temperament of Sachin Tendulkar or the dogged determination of Steve Waugh, but he is blessed with a remarkable eye and quicksilver footwork which when combined with his gift of timing and his appetite for huge scores makes him one of the most exciting batsmen to have played the game. He has the ability to set the pulse racing the moment he steps in to bat and the sense of anticipation never ceases. He is not a batsman from whom one can expect anything beforehand but one whose magical skills are at the command of his mind and his mood. When he is in the right frame of mind and has the mood, he conjures up performances way beyond even the imagination of other players. There is no better batsman to watch in cricket when he is on song and he can certainly be regarded as one of the best to have played.
There may be numerous flaws in him like his carefree attitude, questionable temperament and mood swings but as is the case with most geniuses, these flaws are completely overshadowed by his extraordinary talent, insatiable thirst for runs, his divine footwork and sublime stroke play.
Brian Charles Lara is certainly an invaluable treasure to the game of cricket and millions of fans across the globe and will certainly be immortalized in Cricket Hall of Fame for the sheer joy and entertainment value he has provided consistently to all cricket aficionados.
