'Cricketing legend' hailed
By Lindsay Mackoon, Gleaner Writer
Jamaica Gleaner
April 13, 2004
Two policemen hold off a spectator who had raced onto the pitch yesterday at the Antigua Recreation Ground during play on the third day of the fourth Test to congratulate West Indies skipper Brian Lara, after he had erased Australian Matthew Hayden's record 380 for the most runs in Test cricket. Lara scored 400 not out. - Dellmar
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad:
FROM FAR and wide, tributes are pouring in saluting West Indies batsman Brian Lara's epic quadruple century and new world record individual Test score in the fourth and final Test against England in Antigua today.
Lara was undefeated on 400 when he declared with the West Indies on 751 runs for the loss of five wickets. At the close of play on the third day at the Antigua Recreation Ground, England were 171 for five.
Lara reclaimed the record when he went past Australian Matthew Hayden's 380. The West Indies left-handed batting star's 375 struck 10 years ago against England on the same ground was eclipsed by Hayden last October in Perth against Zimbabwe.
In a statement, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning paid sterling tribute to his countryman, describing him as "a cricketing legend".
"It is difficult to find superlatives to describe a man who has broken two world records within a decade. By setting the new record Lara has taken the entire Caribbean a quantum leap forward in the world of cricket."
Manning added: "The tremendous achievement of scoring 400 runs not out in a Test match proved that the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean were capable of greatness.
"More than that, it is symbolic of what the Caribbean is capable of achieving when we harness our strength and persevere with grit and determination in pursuit of excellence."
The main opposition party, the United National Congress, saluted the 34 year-old West Indies captain as "a son of the soil whose accomplishments have become a symbol of national success and a source of great pride".
Tributes also came from the sport's world governing body, the International Cricket Council through its president, Eshan Mani, who said:
"Cricket is a game that recognises and celebrates its history and on top of all your other success, you have now added a new chapter in our great game's story, your own pages in a history that stretches back more than a century. This is a magnificent achievement."
The Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, in a letter signed by its president Ellis Lewis, stated:
"This has truly been an outstanding, extraordinary and amazing performance - a performance which has done so much for the psyche of our cricket loving fraternity, and indeed the population of Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies.
"We are all very ecstatic and proud of this singular achievement. The steely resolve to fight back could have been seen from your expressions. It said a lot for your character, and the manner in which you accepted the success is a lesson to us all."
In 1994, Lara broke Garfield Sobers' 365 which stood for decades.
He made his Test debut in 1989 against Pakistan.
Celebrations were taking place last night in Santa Cruz, Lara's home town in North Trinidad.