Brian Charles Lara

Brian Lara’s appetite to score runs has in no way diminished. Now thirty seven years of age, the strokes he executes are elegant, power packed, to all regions of the ground. He is reveling in the long game, where he has the time to map out an innings.

It was way back in April 1989 that Brian Charles Lara walked into a test match dressing room. Two weeks short of his twentieth birthday, he was in the company of some great West Indian batsmen – Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Heynes, Richie Richardson, Gus Logie and Keith Arthurton. Lara was named twelfth man, but like any other youngster, was delighted to merely be in the company of such cricketing greats.

Lara did serve a long apprenticeship as it was only in December 1990 that he finally got the break to play in a test match. It was against Pakistan in Lahore. Not a spectacular beginning, with scores of 44 and 05 he had simply made an entry into World Cricket.

The 1992 – 93 tour of Australia signaled the emergence of Brian Lara. Always the toughest tour for any country the Aussies had once again emerged as a superior outfit under Alan Border. In the third test in Sydney (the New Year test of 1993) the stylish left hander made the world to sit-up and take notice. He smashed 277 runs off the powerful Australian attack and looked set for more but was unfortunately run out.

It was his fifth test match and the first test century of his career was a huge double ton. Since then he has not looked back. Only injury or controversial circumstances has kept him out of the West Indian side. He has gone past numerous milestones and broken every accessible record on the way. He still has not finished.

In only his sixteenth test match, a couple of weeks short of his twenty fifth birthday, he became the highest scorer in test cricket going past the mark of legendary countryman Sir Gary Sobers. It is the highest peak that any batsman can climb. Then, when Mathew Hayden knocked off that record against Zimbabwe, Lara recharged his batteries to become the first player in the history of the game to reach 400 runs in a test match. It was yet another lot of English bowlers who had to cope with the punishment.

Lara has stamped his authority by making huge scores whenever the opportunity arises. He assesses that the runs are there to be made, taking into consideration the nature of the pitch and the quality of the attack. His supreme ability reduces a good attack to an average attack, when the pitch offers little or no assistance.

The lateset double century, the ninth in his test career was evidence of that, where he made the most of a beautiful batting strip. What also makes him stand out is his genuine ability to play any spin bowler. Be it Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble, Shane Warne, Haribajan Singh and now Danesh Kaneria, all have felt the sting of his bat. During the fourteen years he’s been around there have been over a dozen outstanding batsmen, but there is no doubt that Lara heads the pack. Go further back in time and though it is hard to make comparisons, he must be rated amongst the best.

Now the question is where and when will it all come to a conclusion. He must have set his sights on how he would like to go.

He has got the most number of runs at test level and one away from equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s number of centuries. Lara is still fit and able. Should he be able to squeeze out another couple of years more, records are bound to tumble further?