|
'The Prince of Trinidad' Brian Lara turns 37 |
May 02, 2006
 The
new West Indies Skipper Brian Charles Lara has
turned 37 years old today. This West Indian
Legend who is the present leading run scorer in
Test Match Cricket was born in a small village
called Cantaro which is a part of the Santa Cruz
Valley that belongs to Trinidad and Tobago. Lara
was the 10th one among the 11 children of Bunty
Lara and Pearl Lara, both of whom had passed
away a few years back.
The Trinidadian made his First Class Debut way
back in 1987/88 against Leeward Islands, where
he could just manage just 14 and 22. However the
then 19-year-old made a fantastic 92 against a
formidable Barbados bowling attack which had the
likes of 'Big Bird' Joel Garner and Malcolm
Marshall. Soon Lara got the opportunity to play
a few big games against the touring Pakistan and
Indian team in the 87/88 and the 88/89 seasons.
In one particular match, playing for the West
Indies U23 side, Lara smashed 182 runs against
the touring Indian team that was led by Krish
Srikkanth. That innings forced him into the West
Indies Test Squad to face India in his home
country Trinidad, Brian couldn't make it to the
playing eleven and the talented youngster had to
play 10 more first class games before
representing the West Indies at the highest
level. And the left hander made his debut in the
3rd Test Match against Pakistan at the Gaddafi
Stadium, Lahore in the 1990/91 season.
 Brian
Lara always has this appetite of scoring big big
hundreds and this habit of his had started with
a magnificent 277 in just his 5th Test of his
career, this amazing knock had come against the
Australians at Sydney. It has been no looking
back at all for BC Lara, who went onto score the
highest individual score in first class cricket
with a 501 not out for Warwickshire against
Durham in 1994, then eclipsing the highest
individual score in Test Cricket by scoring 375*
against England in the same year and then
regaining the same highest individual score
record which was rewritten by Matt Hayden's 380
by scoring the first ever Quadruple Century ever
in Test Cricket. Lara's monumental 400 not out
against England in 2004 at Antigua.
The Prince has exactly a combined total of 50
hundreds in both the forms of Cricket at the
International Level. One milestone which Lara
has lagged behind is crossing the 10000 runs in
ODI Cricket. He has about 600 more runs to get
there. Lara has battled for the West Indies
since a longtime and most of the time, he got
little support from his team mates and the
Prince of Trinidad has seen the gradual decline
of the West Indian Cricket in his illustrious
career. The Prince has come out of One Day
hibernation and is now back playing One Day
Cricket for the West Indies. He is 37 now and is
definitely counting down his days in any form of
the game and he might just play that first ever
World Cup in the Caribbean and then bow out and
put his feet up. World Cricket would be now
hoping to see a player who can replace this 'God
sent player'. Let's hope that player emerges
soon and gives the same kind of entertainment
that Brian Charles Lara has been giving since
the last 15 years!
Top of the Page |
