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A high back lift above the head, exquisite footwork, razor sharp eyesight and sudden swing of the bat 180°. The result ? The ball raced to the boundary or even cleared it before the fielders could move from their positions. No cricketer since Sir Don Bradman has had the appetite of massive runs, irrespective of how difficult the pitch or how formidable the bowling attack, sans Brian Charles Lara. Born to Pearl and Bunty Lara, Brian from his school days aspired to play league football in England and represent his native Trinidad and Tobago on the global stage, something his classmate and best friend Dwight Yorke accomplished later as their sporting careers ran in parallel.
Making his debut against Pakistan in 1989-90, initial years were mediocre when compared to his visibly incredible prodigious talent. The wait bore fruit against Australia at Sydney in 1992 when in just his fifth test, Lara hit 277 and set the benchmark for the rest of his career. And barely an year later, Lara bought the world on its feat scoring 375 against England at Antigua, beating the previous record of 365 in 1958 scored by another West Indies legend Sir Garfield Sobers. Signed by Warwickshire in English County Cricket, Lara bought another landmark to his name hitting an unbeaten 501 against Durham in 1995, making him by far the biggest superstar on the global cricketing horizon.
But with the fame and continued individual success also came the decline of West Indies' supremacy as the best team in the world. Year after year, the West Indies lost test after test, series after series. Saddled with the captaincy of a squad in literal disarray, Lara's first overseas bout as a leader was an epic disaster as the West Indies was whitewashed by South Africa 5-0. Rubbing salt on the wound was his recurring eye infection and shoulder problem, restricting his signature wide variety of shots and thereby the huge scores he was known for. But world knew Lara was born out of a different mould altogether and would strike back to form when a difficult opportunity arose. In the subsequent home series against an Australian team which was fast ascending as one of strongest in cricket history, Lara alone carried his men on his shoulders, hitting 213, 153 and 100 in consecutive tests with the first 2 knocks being the sole reason West Indies drawing the series 2-2.
Yet again hitting a lean patch at the start of the 21st century, Lara soon found his touch in Sri Lanka against the world's top ranked bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, scoring 688 runs with 3 tons but these were yet again insufficient as West Indies were humiliated 3-0. Having reclaimed his self-confidence, Lara set about reclaiming his desired and deserved batting records as well, starting with the highest individual score of 400* in 2004, yet again against England, yet again at Antigua after Australian Matthew Hayden had scored 380 against Zimbabwe the same year, followed by the tally of highest runs scored in test cricket in 2005-06, surpassing another Australian Allan Border's decade standing accomplishment of 11174 runs, ironically against Australia in Australia in the midst of a brilliant innings of 226 at Adelaide.
The 2007 World Cup could have very well been Lara's swansong, but despite a promising start West Indies went from defeat to defeat and by the end of the second stage were knocked out of the tournament. Lara's farewell international match against England too went awry as a horrible mix up resulted in a run out and another loss for the West Indies.
Some would remember Brian Lara as a controversial figure whose illustrious presence coincided with the downfall of the West Indies cricket team. Most would remember him as the ultimate batting genius against whom, not even the greatest bowlers had answers.
