In Trinidad and Tobago, cricket is one of the most popular sports disciplines and the most popular star of the sport is Brian Charles Lara, a talented and compact left-handed batsman, considered one of the world’s best ever.
Born on 2 May 1969, in Cantaro, Trinidad, Lara was first selected for the senior West Indies team in 1991 and within three years he broke Sir Garfield Sobers’ 36-year-old Test record of 365 with 375 .against England.
And he also broke the first-class record when he posted 501 not out for Warwickshire, the only score to date to surpass 500 runs.
And ten years later he became the first cricketer to restore the Test innings record when he posted 401 not out to break Matthew Hayden’s 380 runs scored the previous year.
Lara’s match-winning performance of 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1999 has been rated by Wisden as the second best batting performance in Test cricket history, behind only Sir Donald Bradman’s 270 runs in The Ashes. 1937 Test match.
Muttiah Muralitharan has hailed Lara as his toughest opponent among all batsmen in the world.
Lara was awarded the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World award in 1994 and 1995 and is also one of three cricketers to receive BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the other two being Sir Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne.
Ten years ago, Brian Lara was inducted into the International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame. Also, the man popularly known as the ‘Port Prince of Spain’ boasts a Test record of 131 matches decorated with 34 centuries, 48 half-centuries and a total of 11,963 runs at an average of 52.88 and a highest score of 400 not out. . out.
In One-Day Internationals, he played 299 matches, scoring 10,405 runs at an average of 40.48 and a highest score of 169. He tallied 19 tons and 63 half-centuries.
