On the 30th anniversary of one of the great Test series played in Australia, foxsports.com.au sat down with West Indies cricket legend Brian Lara for his reflections.
In the second of a three-part series, Lara recalls making 277 at SCG; arguably the best Test innings ever by a visiting Australian bowler.
In the wake of Shane Warne’s first Test masterclass 30 years ago, the West Indies suddenly felt vulnerable.
For so long the dominant force in world cricket, the West Indies’ veneer of greatness had begun to crack.
West Indies legends were walking into the sunset, including Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Malcolm Marshall, while more big-name departures were soon to follow.
And here was Australia – a nation to whom it had lost just six of 33 Tests since 1978 – unearthing a devastating spin talent that had exposed its Achilles’ heel.
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To make matters worse, the West Indies were already 1-0 up in the five-Test series and were heading to Australia’s best spin surface, the SCG, for the third Test.
One of the quietest people in the room, however, was a 23-year-old from Trinidad who had played just four Tests.
“I remember being on the flight from Melbourne to Sydney and telling the manager not to worry,” Brian Lara said. foxsports.com.au.
“I’ll tackle Shane Warne”.
PART ONE: Inside Warne’s ‘funny’ arrival as Lara reveals moment sent Test giant ‘panicking’
Lara’s confidence was unusual for a young player yet to play a full Test series – but Lara was no ordinary cricketer.
You know how the story goes in broad strokes.
The left-hander makes 277 at the SCG to help preserve a draw, thus turning the tide of the series, which the West Indies win 2-1.
Lara, meanwhile, marks himself as one of the world’s brightest batting prospects – a label he backs up by finishing his Test career with 11,953 runs at 52.88, including an ever-highest score of 400 not out .
Now, and probably forever, Lara stands as one of the titans of modern cricket with Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and, indeed, Shane Warne.
But 30 years ago, after two years of limited opportunities in Test cricket, nothing was guaranteed for Lara.
He had played just two Tests before that summer’s Frank-Worrell series, before making 58 and a duck at the Gabba, and 52 and four at the MCG.
In Melbourne, Warne took 7-52 to announce his arrival to the world and strike fear into the West Indies camp, Lara said.
“Going into Sydney, (it was) a Test venue where the West Indies don’t usually play very well, or Australia has the advantage because it’s a development venue. People like Bob Holland, Allan Border, Murray Bennett won wickets against us,” Lara said.
“We were there with a dilemma. Shane Warne, Greg Matthews – Allan Border was there too – all expected to take a 2-0 lead in this five-Test series.
“I know for a fact there was some kind of nervousness in the dressing room.”
Lara recalls the moment of Warne’s explosion | 03:55
Lara said his insistence that he could “handle” Warne was not about arrogance. Instead, the belief owed to his upbringing in the southern Caribbean.
The 53-year-old comes from Trinidad and Tobago, where about 40 percent of the population is of Indian origin.
Lara said the demographics of his home island meant he faced more than other parts of the Caribbean, which was known as a fast bowling factory.
“The reason I said (I will handle Warne), it might sound a bit arrogant, but the reason I said is … we play a lot of spin,” Lara said.
“We have a lot of back-arm spinners, a lot of off-spinners, a lot of left-arm spinners. Most of the spinners who played for the West Indies came from these two islands (Trinidad and Tobago).
“I felt that even though I didn’t get a chance to face him a lot (in Melbourne), I’m used to playing those hand things. So I was looking forward to the challenge.”
After winning the toss, Australia swept the West Indies out of the third Test over the better part of two days, posting 9-503d.
West Indies then lost openers Desmond Haynes and Phil Simmons early to bring Lara to the crease along with captain Richie Richardson at 2-31.
A 2-0 deficit was staring the team in the face, meaning they would need to win back-to-back Tests in Adelaide and Perth just to level the series.
It would have been a modest result for the West Indies who had not lost a Test series since the tour of New Zealand in 1980 and had not lost in Australia since 1975.
But Lara and Richardson had other ideas.
The pair sat together at the SCG, frustrating the Australians – including Warne – in a 293-run partnership that tipped the Test back into the balance.
But the work was not done. Still after nearly 200 runs, a free collapse would open the door for Warne late on the fifth day.
Lara, who had never made a double century at any level of the game, knew she had to keep going.
“I remember there was an electronic scoreboard at the SCG and with every boundary, or every five runs, some sort of record was broken. That was also kind of the push I needed to keep going,” he said.
“My coach at the time, Rohan Kanhai, told me during one of the rain breaks, ‘your next innings starts at zero’, which automatically means, ‘stay there and bat as long as possible ‘.
“And the team needed me to hit. Even though I got a hundred, we were still well short of what Australia put on the board and we didn’t want to lose that Test match. We wanted to get out unscathed and see what we could do with the other two.”
What was already one of Australia’s great Test innings quickly developed into an all-time masterpiece.
Anything that was a bit wide was weaved through the covers as Lara was happy to hit with spin to punish anything too straight from Warne.
The way Lara would wobble deep into his crease and then expertly drive the ball between the fielders made it look like he had all the time in the world.
There was a power in his playing, but in the most refined way possible. His 277 off 372 balls did not have a single six but included 38 boundaries that virtually all traveled down the ground.
The most special thing was that Lara’s hero and Australia’s captain, Allan Border, was Lara’s hero and Australia’s captain, watching all these steps from the middle of the SCG.
“I was very happy to be on the same pitch as Allan Border,” said Lara. “But I don’t think he was very happy that I was there doing what I was doing.
“I think coming out of those ranks, I think I gained a lot of respect. I think a lot of the Australian players, they might have had a little bit to say at the beginning of the innings but, as my innings went on, I felt they realized I was there to stay and it was very difficult to get me out. out.”
After almost eight hours in the crease, Lara had to come out.
The left-hander called Carl Hooper for a quick single, but it was reversed and left at the striker’s end to the delight of the Australians.
“He’d still be batting now if Carl Hooper hadn’t taken him out,” Border joked. Sports CODE.
“I’ve never seen a guy hit the gap so easily.
“I got to a point where I was talking to the players and saying, ‘wherever I put you, it’s your choice whether you move five meters left or right.’ They would move elaborately and Brian being Brian just kept putting it through the gaps.”
Lara’s 277 was the highest Test score ever made by a visiting player in Australia in 89 years, and remains the third best total behind only England’s Tip Foster (287, Sydney 1903) and New Zealand’s Ross Taylor (290, Perth 2015).
His tallies meant the tie was safe for the West Indies, giving the visitors hope of coming from behind to retain the Frank-Worrell Trophy and maintain their dominance over Australia.
Warne, meanwhile, finished with 1-116, with Hooper his only wicket of the Test.
Warne later said Lara’s 277 was “one of the best innings” he had seen him play in a Test career that spanned 34 centuries.
“Brian, for me, if you had to send someone out and you needed a 400 to win on the last day and you needed someone to make a 200 to win, you’d probably want Brian Lara to be that guy,” Warne said. cricket.com.au in 2016.
“He was great, he was great to watch, he had a real flair about him.
“He always seemed to hit the gaps. His ball placement was always something that I thought was very special.”
The following match in Adelaide saw the West Indies claim what is still the only one-run win in Test cricket history.
Heartache crushed the Australians, who collapsed for 119 and 178 in Perth to lose the Test by an innings and 25 runs, and the series 2-1.
Curtly Ambrose was man of the series for his 33 wickets at 16.42, but Lara was West Indies’ top scorer with 466 runs at 58.25.
Despite the win, the 1992-93 series made it clear that the tide was turning against the West Indies.
However, the series would change Lara’s life forever, setting the young gun on the path to greatness.
“For me, it was just wonderful. I was young, excited about everything. I really wanted to get my first Test hundred and then I blossomed into something much bigger,” Lara said.
“It taught me a lot about my game. You know, sometimes you get these great achievements of young guys scoring 300 or 400 in school cricket. I was one of those who played 30 overs, 35 overs, so I never got the chance to go long. It was actually my first double century in any form of the game.
“To get there and see how it unfolded, I knew at that point in time I had what it took to be one of the best cricketers walking around.
“It just gave me that confidence I needed.”
