Lara delivers perfect response to any who dared doubt his talent
By Stephen Brenkley in St John's
Sporting Life
April 13, 2004
Brian Lara was asked on the eve of the fourth Test if he felt his magnificent talent was in terminal decline. On balance, it is probable that the question will not be posed again this month.
Shortly before noon, Eastern Caribbean Time, yesterday, Lara took two strides down the pitch against the England off-spinner, Gareth Batty, and nervelessly struck a six into the pavilion. It drew him level with the highest individual Test score of all time. With the field in to save a single, he swept the next ball nonchalantly for four to long leg to take his score to 384. After just 185 days, the world record belonged to Lara once more.
An hour or so later, lunch having intervened, he played another sweep, took a single and became the first batsman to make 400 in a Test innings. He declared his and the West Indies innings almost immediately, but it would be unwise to bet against him sometime, somewhere (but possibly Antigua) scoring 500.
There were barely concealed mutterings that Lara should have called a halt after the record but before the 400 since no man is bigger than the game, and the game was there to be won. For all its merits, that argument fails to consider what this achievement will mean to the people of the Caribbean.
The night before, when he was on a mere 313, Lara himself had played it down. "I don't think it's anything to rant and rave about, it's a really nice batting track," he said. By surpassing the score and then by nailing another slice of history he demonstrated that inwardly he might have been ranting and raving a little himself.
It was six days short of 10 years at this very ground since Lara first broke the record by scoring 375 against England and going past the 365 not out of Garry Sobers.
Then he was at the beginning of a patch of form the likes of which had never been seen. He was so jaunty that on the night before he made the 46 runs he needed, he announced that he intended to have a round of golf before play. Not this time. "I was 24 then," he said.
Lara now stands at first and third in the list of highest Test innings. He astonished the ground with the strokes that first took him past one B C Lara and level with Matthew Hayden, of Australia, who made 380 against Zimbabwe in Perth last October, and then put him out on his own again.
Poor Batty is making a habit of being on the receiving end of history. He was the hapless fellow at Sydney in January last year when Steve Waugh needed two to make his 32nd Test hundred from the last ball of the day (to draw level with Sir Donald Bradman) and drilled four through cover. Batty bowled well yesterday, using the breeze intelligently, but as at Sydney he could not prevent the inevitable.
Back in 1994, Lara took 766 minutes, 538 balls and struck 45 fours in his 375. By the end yesterday, he had batted for 773 minutes and 582 balls with four sixes, a five and 43 fours. Graham Thorpe was the sole survivor of England's team from 1994, Darrell Hair had been one of the umpires. The pair of them probably felt they had seen it all before.
LARA'S ROUTE TO GLORY
* Scored his 50 in 115 mins off 61 balls, hitting seven fours.
* 100 in 192 mins off 131 balls, 13 fours.
* 150 in 278 mins off 199 balls, 18 fours.
* 200 in 387 mins off 260 balls, 22 fours and one six.
* 250 in 479 mins off 323 balls, 27 fours and two sixes.
* 300 in 576 mins off 404 balls, 34 fours and two sixes.
* 350 in 678 mins off 494 balls, 39 fours and three sixes.
* 384 in 728 mins off 546 balls, 42 fours and four sixes.
* 400 in 773 mins off 582 balls, 43 fours and four sixes.
*The shot that equalled the record (374 to 380): Batty to Lara (189.3 overs). Came down the track and hit a straight six into the crowd at long on.
* The shot that broke the record (380 to 384): Batty to Lara (189.4 overs). Sweep shot down to fine leg, beats the field and goes for his 42nd four of the innings.
* The shot the brought up the first individual 400 in Test match history: Batty to Lara (201.2 overs ). Sweep shot down to fine leg for a single.