Brian Lara
Encyclopedia
Brian Charles Lara, TC
Trinity Cross
The Trinity Cross was the highest of the National Awards of Trinidad and Tobago, between the years 1969– 2008. It was awarded for: distinguished and outstanding service to Trinidad and Tobago...

, OCC
Order of the Caribbean Community
The Order of the Caribbean Community is an award given toThe award was initiated at the Eighth Conference of Heads of State and Governments of CARICOM in 1987 and began bestowal in 1992. Decisions as to award are taken by the Advisory Committee for the Order of the Caribbean CommunityThe Insignia...

, AM (born 2 May 1969, in Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago
The Santa Cruz Valley stretches between Maraval and San Juan, along the Saddle Road. It lies between the hills of the Northern Range on the island of Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago....

, Trinidad and Tobago) is a former West Indian international cricket player. Lara is generally regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 batting rankings
LG ICC cricket ratings
The ICC Player Rankings are a widely followed system of rankings for international cricketers based on their recent performances. The current sponsor is Reliance Mobile who have signed a deal with the ICC that will last until 2015....

 on several occasions and holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

, with 501 not out for Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...

 against Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...

 at Edgbaston
Edgbaston Cricket Ground
Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England...

 in 1994, which is the only quintuple hundred in first-class cricket history. The BBC radio commentary on the final day of the innings (6 June 1994), by Dave Roberts
Dave Roberts (Sports Broadcaster/Referee)
Dave Roberts is a TV Presenter and commentator specialising in football . He previously worked for ESPN in the USA, ESPN Star Sports in Singapore, Sky Sports in the UK as well as a host of radio stations. As well as his broadcast work he is a fully qualified National/International football referee....

, was being broadcast around the world live via the BBC World Service network, and in the UK on BBC Radios 1, 2 & 4 as well as the majority of BBC Local radio stations. That evening, as Lara neared the all-time batting record, a huge surge of fans crowded to enter the grounds.

Lara also holds the record for the highest individual score in a test innings after scoring 400 not out against England at Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

 in 2004. He is the only batsman to have ever scored a hundred, a double century, a triple century, a quadruple century and a quintuple century in first class games over the course of a senior career. Lara also holds the test record of scoring most number of runs in a single over in a Test match, when he scored 28 runs off an over by Robin Peterson
Robin Peterson
Robin John Peterson is a South African cricketer who bowls left arm spin. He is also a more than capable batsman, with a first class batting average of 26.35 as of 6 November 2005. His first class bowling average is a modest 36.36, however, and in Test matches it stands at 50.37...

 of South Africa in 2003.

Lara's match-winning performance of 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...

, Barbados in 1999 has been rated by Wisden
Wisden
The Wisden Group was a group of companies formed by John Wisden & Co Ltd, publishers of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. As well as John Wisden & Co, the group included the The Wisden Cricketer magazine, Cricinfo – the world's highest traffic cricket website – and the Hawk-Eye computerised...

 as the second best batting performance in the history of Test cricket, next only to the 270 runs scored by Sir Donald Bradman in The Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...

 Test match of 1937. Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002...

, rated as the greatest Test match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...

, and the highest wicket-taker in both Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 and in One Day Internationals (ODIs), has hailed Lara as his toughest opponent among all batsmen in the world. Lara was awarded the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World
The Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World award was introduced in 2004 to complement the long-standing Wisden Cricketer of the Year awards, which are still given to five players each year....

 awards in 1994 and 1995 and is also one of only three cricketers to receive the prestigious BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, the other two being Sir Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...

. Brian Lara is popularly nicknamed as "The Prince of Port of Spain" or simply "The Prince". On 27 November 2009 he was appointed honorary member of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

.

Early life

Lara was the 10th of 11 children. Lara's father Bunty and one of his older sisters Agnes Cyrus enrolled him in the local Harvard Coaching Clinic at the age of six for weekly coaching sessions on Sundays. As a result, Lara had a very early education in correct batting technique. Lara's first school was St. Joseph's Roman Catholic primary. He then went to San Juan secondary, which is located in Moreau Road, Lower Santa Cruz. A year later, at fourteen years old, he moved on to Fatima College
Fatima College
Fatima College is a government-assisted, highly-selective Roman Catholic boys' secondary school in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. It was established in 1945 and had an enrollment of 895 students . The school was established and is run by the Holy Ghost Fathers, an international Roman Catholic...

 where he started his development as a promising young player under cricket coach Mr. Harry Ramdass. Aged 14, he amassed 745 runs in the schoolboys' league, with an average of 126.16 per innings, which earned him selection for the Trinidad national under-16 team. When he was 15 years old, he played in his first West Indian under 19 youth tournament and that same year, Lara represented West Indies in Under-19 cricket.

Lara moved in with his future fellow Trinidadian cricketer Michael Carew
Michael Carew
Michael Philip Carew, born 10 February 1966 in Trinidad, is a retired professional cricketer who played first-class and List A cricket for Trinidad and Tobago. He is the son of the former West Indies Test player Joey Carew.-References:...

 in Woodbrook, Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...

 (a 20 minute drive from Santa Cruz). Michael's father Joey Carew
Joey Carew
Michael Conrad "Joey" Carew was a West Indian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1963 to 1972. His sole test century came against New Zealand at Eden Park in 1969...

 worked with him on his cricketing and personal career development. Michael got Lara his first job at Angostura Ltd.
House of Angostura
The House of Angostura is a Trinidad and Tobago company famous for the production of angostura bitters, invented by the company's founder. The company is also a distiller and is the major producer of rum in Trinidad and Tobago. The company also has been used as a vehicle for international...

 in the marketing department. Lara played in Trinidad and Tobago junior soccer and table tennis sides but Lara believed that cricket was his path to success, saying that he wanted to emulate his idols Gordon Greenidge
Gordon Greenidge
Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge MBE is a former member of the West Indies cricket team.Greenidge was an opening batsman for the West Indies. He began his Test career against India at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore in 1974 and continued playing internationally until 1991. He was half of the West...

, Viv Richards
Viv Richards
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, KNH, OBE is a former West Indian cricketer. Better known by his second name, Vivian or, more popularly, simply as Viv or King Viv Richards was voted one of the five Cricketers of the Century in 2000, by a 100-member panel of experts, along with Sir Donald...

 and Roy Fredericks
Roy Fredericks
Roy Clifton Fredericks was a West Indian cricketer who played from 1968 to 1977....

.

Early First-class career

1987 was a breakthrough year for Lara, when in the West Indies Youth Championships he scored 498 runs breaking the record of 480 by Carl Hooper
Carl Hooper
Carl Llewellyn Hooper is a former West Indian cricket player and captain.-Career:He was a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler, who came to prominence in the late 1980s in a side that included such players as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh and represented...

 set the previous year. He captained the tournament winning Trinidad and Tobago, who profited from a match winning 116 from Lara.

In January 1988, Lara made his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago cricket team
The Trinidad and Tobago cricket team is the representative cricket team of the country of Trinidad and Tobago.The team takes part in inter-regional cricket competitions in the Caribbean, such as the Regional Four Day Competition and the WICB Cup, with the best players selected for the West Indies...

 in the Red Stripe Cup against Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands cricket team
The Leeward Islands cricket team is a first class cricket team representing the member countries of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association, a regional association which again is part of the West Indies Cricket Board. Contrary to the normal English definition of the Leeward Islands, Dominica is not...

. In his second first-class match he made 92 against a Barbados attack containing Joel Garner
Joel Garner
Joel Garner , also known as "Big Joel" or "Big Bird", is a former West Indian cricketer, and a member of the highly regarded late 1970s and early '80s West Indies cricket teams....

 and Malcolm Marshall
Malcolm Marshall
By 1984 Marshall was seen as one of the finest bowlers in the world, and he demoralised England that summer, especially at Headingley, where he ran through the order in the second innings to finish with 7-53, despite having broken his thumb whilst fielding in the first innings...

, two greats of West Indies teams. Later in the same year, he captained the West Indies team in Australia for the Bicentennial Youth World Cup where the West Indies reached the semi-finals. Later that year, his innings of 182 as captain of the West Indies under 23 XI against the touring Indian team further elevated his reputation.

His first selection for the full West Indies team followed in due course, but unfortunately coincided with the death of his father and Lara withdrew from the team. In 1989, he captained a West Indies B Team in Zimbabwe and scored 145.

In 1990, at the age of 20, Lara became Trinidad and Tobago's youngest ever captain, leading them that season to victory in the one-day Geddes Grant Shield. It was also in 1990 that he made his belated Test debut for West Indies against Pakistan
Pakistani cricket team
The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board , is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in , and cricket matches....

, scoring 44 and 5. He had made his ODI debut a month earlier against Pakistan, scoring 11. In the 1992 World Cup
1992 Cricket World Cup
-New Zealand:-Round Robin Stage:Co-hosts New Zealand proved the surprise packet of the tournament, winning their first seven games to finish on top of the table after the round robin. The other hosts, Australia, were one of the pre-tournament favourites but lost their first two matches. They...

 Lara did well averaging 47.57 with a highest score of 88 retired hurt.

International career

In January 1993, Lara scored 277 versus Australia in Sydney. This, his maiden Test century in his fifth Test, was the turning point of the series as West Indies won the final two Tests to win the series 2–1.Lara went on to name his daughter Sydney after scoring 277 at SCG.

Lara holds several world records for high scoring. He has the highest individual score in both first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 (501 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...

 for Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...

 against Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...

 in 1994) and Test cricket (400 not out for the West Indies against England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 in 2004). Lara amassed his world record 501 in 474 minutes off only 427 balls. He hit 308 in boundaries (10 sixes and 62 fours). His partners were Roger Twose
Roger Twose
Roger Graham Twose played 16 Tests and 87 One Day Internationals for New Zealand in the mid-1990s.Born in England, Twose moved to play in New Zealand in 1991-92, as it became clear he would struggle to ever force his way into the England side...

 (115 partnership – 2nd wicket), Trevor Penney
Trevor Penney
Trevor Lionel Penney is a former cricketer who played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club, noted particularly for his fielding...

 (314 – 3rd), Paul Smith
Paul Smith (cricketer)
Paul Andrew Smith born April 15, 1964 in Gosforth, Northumberland is a former English cricketer who played for Warwickshire from 1982 to 1996....

 (51 – 4th) and Keith Piper (322 unbroken – 5th). Earlier in that season Lara scored six centuries in seven innings while playing for Warwickshire.

He is the only man to have reclaimed the Test record score, having scored 375 against England in 1994, a record that stood until Matthew Hayden
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is a former Australian cricketer, and was signed to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL until the 2010 season. Hayden is a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels.Hayden holds the record...

's 380 against Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean cricket team
The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is administrated by Zimbabwe Cricket...

 in 2003. His 400 not out also made him the second player after Donald Bradman
Donald Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...

 to score two Test triple-centuries, and the second after Bill Ponsford
Bill Ponsford
William Harold "Bill" Ponsford MBE was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain...

 to score two first-class quadruple-centuries. He has scored nine double centuries in Test cricket, second only to Bradman's twelve. In 1995 Lara in the Test match away series against England, scored 3 hundreds in Three consecutive Matches which earned him the Man of the Series award. The Test Series was eventually drawn 2–2. He also held the record for the highest total number of runs in a Test career, after overtaking Allan Border
Allan Border
Allan Robert Border AO is a former Australian cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test matches in his career, a record until it was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh...

 in an innings of 226 played at Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...

, Australia in November 2005. This would be later broken by Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

 of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 on 17 October 2008 whilst playing against Australia at Mohali in the 2nd Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Border-Gavaskar Trophy
The Border–Gavaskar Trophy is a Test cricket series, played between India and Australia. It has witnessed some of the most competitive Test series played in recent years, with results usually either being a narrow win for one of the sides or a closely fought draw...

 2008.

Lara captained the West Indies from 1998 to 1999, when West Indies suffered their first whitewash at the hands of South Africa. Following this they played Australia in a four Test series which was drawn 2–2, with Lara scoring 546 runs including three centuries and one double hundred. In the second Test at Kingston he scored 213 while in the third Test he scored 153* in the second innings as West Indies chased down 311 with one wicket left. He won the Man of the Match award for both matches and was also named Man of the Series.

In 2001 Lara was named the Man of the Carlton Series in Australia with an average of 46.50, the highest average by a West Indian in that series, scoring two half centuries and one century, 116 against Australia. That same year Lara amassed 688 runs in the three match away Test series against Sri Lanka making three centuries, and one fifty – including the double century and a century in the first and second innings of the 3rd Test Match at the Sinhalese Sports Ground, equating to 42% of the team's runs in that series. These extraordinary performances led Muttiah Muralitharan to state that Lara was the most dangerous batsman he had ever faced.

Lara was reappointed as captain against the touring Australians
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 in 2003, and struck 110 in his first Test match back in charge, showing a return to stellar performance. Later that season, under his captaincy, West Indies won the two match Test series against Sri Lanka 1–0 with Lara making a double century in the First Test. In September 2004, West Indies won the ICC Champions Trophy in England under his captaincy.

In March 2005, Lara declined selection for the West Indies team because of a dispute over his personal Cable & Wireless sponsorship deal, which clashed with the Cricket Board's main sponsor, Digicel
Digicel
Digicel is a mobile phone network provider covering parts of Oceania, Central America, and the Caribbean regions. The company is owned by Irishman Denis O'Brien, is incorporated in Bermuda, and based in Jamaica. It provides mobile services in 26 countries and territories throughout the Caribbean...

. Six other players were involved in this dispute, including stars Chris Gayle
Chris Gayle
Christopher Henry "Chris" Gayle is a Jamaican cricketer who currently plays international cricket for the West Indies. He captained the West Indies' side from 2007 to 2010. He plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and has also represented Worcestershire, the Western Warriors and the Kolkata Knight...

, Ramnaresh Sarwan
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Ramnaresh Ronnie Sarwan is a West Indian cricketer of Indo-Guyanese origin and a member of the West Indies cricket team....

 and Dwayne Bravo
Dwayne Bravo
Dwayne James John Bravo is a West Indian cricketer. A right-handed pace bowler, Bravo is expected to play a significant role in attempts by the West Indies to return to international prominence in the sport....

. Lara said he declined selection in a stand of solidarity, when these players were dropped because of their sponsorship deals. The issue was resolved after the first Test of the series against the touring South African team
South African cricket team
The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...

.

Lara returned to the team for the second Test (and scored a huge first innings score of 196), but in the process lost his captaincy indefinitely to the newly-appointed Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Shivnarine "Shiv" Chanderpaul is a cricketer, and former captain of the West Indies cricket team. He is the first Indo-Caribbean in the West Indies team to play 100 Tests for the West Indies and has captained them in 14 Tests and 16 One Day Internationals...

. In the next Test, against the same opponents, he scored a 176 in the first innings. After a one day series against South Africa, he scored his first Test century against the visiting Pakistanis in the first Test at Kensington Oval
Kensington Oval
The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket...

, Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...

, Barbados which the West Indies eventually won.

On 26 April 2006 Lara was reappointed the captain of the West Indies cricket team for the third time. This followed the resignation of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had been captain for thirteen months – in which the West Indies won just one of the 14 Test matches they had competed. In May 2006, Lara led the West Indies to successful One-Day series victories against Zimbabwe and India. Lara's team played Australia in the finals of the DLF Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy where they finished runners up in both finals.

On 16 December 2006 he became the first player for the West Indies to pass 10,000 One Day International runs. along with Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

 one of only two players, at the time, to do so in both forms of the game. On 10 April 2007 Lara confirmed his retirement from one day cricket post the 2007 Cricket World Cup
2007 Cricket World Cup
The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007, using the sport's One Day International format...

. A few days later he announced that he would in fact be retiring from all international cricket after the tournament.

Lara played his final international game on 21 April 2007 in a dead rubber World Cup game against England. He was run out for 18 after a mix up with Marlon Samuels; England won the game by 1 run. Before the end of this World Cup Glenn McGrath stated that Lara is the greatest batsman that he has ever bowled to.

Retirement

On 19 April 2007 Lara announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket, indicating that the West Indies vs England match on 21 April 2007 would be his last international appearance. He was run out after a bad mixup with Marlon Samuels
Marlon Samuels
Marlon Nathaniel Samuels is a West Indian cricketer. Samuels made his Test debut in Australia in 2000, and his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka in Nairobi during the ICC Knockout Trophy in the same year....

 for 18, as England went on to win the match by one wicket.

He announced before the 2007 Cricket World Cup that this would be his last appearance in One Day Internationals. After his last match, in the post-game presentation interview, he asked the fans, "Did I entertain?", to which he received a resounding cheer from the crowd, after which he went out and took his 'lap of honour' where he met and shook hands with many of the fans. Lara stated this would be his last appearance in international cricket, he has also indicated his interest in retaining some involvement in the sport.

On 23 July 2007 Lara agreed to sign for the Indian Cricket League
Indian Cricket League
The Indian Cricket League was a private cricket league funded by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that operated between 2007 and 2009 in India...

. He is currently the captain of the Mumbai Champs
Mumbai Champs
Mumbai Champs was one of the nine teams played in the defunct Indian Cricket League . The team is based in Mumbai, India and its captain is former New Zealand batsman Nathan Astle.- Players :...

. He volunteered to play for his home team Trinidad during the start of 2008 domestic season. He had not played for Trinidad for the last two years. He made his comeback a memorable one with a match winning hundred over Guyana, followed by a dismissive undefeated half-century in the second innings, scored at over two runs per ball. In the third round game (Trinidad got a bye in the second round).

Lara suffered a fractured arm against the Leeward Islands in St Maarten on 19 January, which kept him out of the ICL season. He nevertheless affirmed his commitment to returning to Twenty20 cricket, and on 27 June 2010 appeared for the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 match against a touring Pakistan team, scoring 37 from 32 balls.

The Wisden 100
Wisden 100
The Wisden 100 is a set of lists created by Wisden which attempted to objectively rate the 100 best individual innings performances in Test and One Day International cricket in each of the disciplines of batting and bowling...

 rates Lara's 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown in 1998–99 as the second best innings ever after Sir Donald Bradman's 270 against England in Melbourne in 1936–37.

2010 return

After negotiations between Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...

 and Lara for the 2010 Friends Provident t20
2010 Friends Provident t20
The 2010 Friends Provident t20 tournament was the inaugural Friends Provident t20 Twenty20 cricket competition for the England and Wales first-class counties. The competition ran from 1 June 2010 until the finals day at The Rose Bowl on 14 August 2010...

 failed to come to anything, Lara declared that he still wanted to sign a contract to play Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...

 cricket. Late in the year he joined Southern Rocks
Southern Rocks
The Southern Rocks is one of five Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are a first-class cricket team, based in the Masvingo and Matabeleland South area. They play their home matches at Masvingo Sports Club in Masvingo.-Squad:...

, a Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

an side, to compete in the 2010–11 Stanbic Bank 20 Series
2010–11 Stanbic Bank 20 Series
-Third-place play-off:-Final:...

. On his debut for the Rocks, and his first-ever Twenty20 match, he scored a half-century, top-scoring for the Rocks with 65. He added 34 runs in his next two innings, but then left the competition, citing "commitments elsewhere".

Indian Premier League 2011

After expressing his interest to play in the 2011 fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and despite not having have played active cricket for four years, Brian Lara still managed to attract the highest reserve price of $400,000 ahead of the IPL players' auction in early January 2011.

Upon hearing Lara's decision to return to top class Cricket, former West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose
Curtly Ambrose
Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose is a former West Indian cricketer. His skill was as a right-arm fast bowler, especially in partnership with Courtney Walsh...

 and wicket-keeper/batsman Jeff Dujon
Jeff Dujon
Peter Jeffrey Leroy Dujon is a retired West Indian cricketer.He was the wicketkeeper for the West Indian cricket team of the 1980s, an athletic presence behind the stumps as well as a competent lower-order batsman....

 talking on the SportsMax Cricket Talk Show – From the Pitch, advised Lara to stay away from the IPL at this stage of Lara's life. Ambrose said "If I was supposed to advise Brian, I would advise him to stay out. He hasn't played any form of competitive cricket for a few years. When you reach certain heights in international sports, you can really damage your reputation quite a bit if you can't reproduce that kind of standard. I don't think he should come back." Dujon also voiced similar comments saying "I wouldn't advise him to come back. He has had a wonderful career and he should live with those memories".
Despite having a base price of $400,000, Lara went unsold in the auction of IPL 4.

Controversies

On the fourth day of the first Test match at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's, Antigua during India's tour of West Indies, 2006, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. He made his One Day International debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC...

's flick off Dave Mohammed
Dave Mohammed
Dave Mohammed is a West Indian cricketer. He is a left-arm chinaman bowler, and bats left-handed.Having played only three first-class matches, he was called up to the squad for the third Test against South Africa in March 2001, but did not make his Test debut until January 2004, again against...

 to the midwicket region was caught by Daren Ganga
Daren Ganga
Daren Ganga is a West Indian cricketer of East Indian descent. He is a right-handed top order batsman and part-time right-arm offbreak bowler. After debuting as a 19 year old he has found himself in and out of the West Indies team, playing regularly for and at times captaining the West Indies A...

. As the batsman started to walk back, captain Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...

 declared the innings when confusion started as the umpires were not certain if the fielder stepped on the ropes and Dhoni stayed for the umpire's verdict. While the replays were inconclusive, the captain of the West Indies side, Brian Lara wanted Dhoni to walk-off based on the fielder's assertion of the catch. The impasse continued for more than 15 minutes. Ultimately, Dhoni walked-off and Dravid's declaration was effected but the game was delayed. Lara was called by the match referee for explanation of his actions but was not fined.

Off the field

Brian Lara has established the Pearl and Bunty Lara Foundation, which is a charitable organisation in memory of his parents that aims to address health and social care issues. He is an Ambassador for Sport of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and travels on a diplomatic passport to promote his country throughout the world. Brian Lara received an honorary doctorate from the University of Sheffield on Wednesday 10 January 2007. The ceremony took place at the Trinidad Hilton, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

On 7 September 2008 he took part in Soccer Aid 2008, and on 6 June 2010 in Soccer Aid 2010, playing for the Rest of the World vs a team of England celebrites and ex pros. Lara was also a talented football player in his youth and often played with his close friends Dwight Yorke
Dwight Yorke
Dwight Eversley Yorke is a Trinidad and Tobago former football player. He played for Aston Villa for most of his career, followed by stints with Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney FC and Sunderland...

, Shaka Hislop
Shaka Hislop
Neil Shaka Hislop, CM is a former professional football goalkeeper. The majority of his career was spent in the top division in England where he was a part of the Newcastle United team which finished second in the Premier League for two successive seasons under Kevin Keegan's first tenure...

 and Russell Latapy
Russell Latapy
Russell Nigel Latapy is a Trinidad and Tobago footballer who plays for Edinburgh City as an attacking midfielder.In a senior career which spanned more than 20 years at both club and international level, he played in Portugal and Scotland .Latapy...

 while growing up together in Trinidad. Yorke, Hislop and Latapy would go on to play for Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago national football team
The Trinidad and Tobago national football team, nicknamed The Soca Warriors, is the national team of Trinidad and Tobago and is run by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation. It reached the first round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals...

 at the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

.

Brian Lara is also a golf player. He has participated in golfing tournaments throughout the caribbean region and has won titles. In September 2009, Lara was inducted as an honorary lifetime member of the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club.

Personal life

Lara has dated former Durham County Cricket Club receptionist and British lingerie model Lynnsey Ward. During the West Indies tour to Australia in late 2000, Lara was accompanied by Ward.

Lara is the father of a girl called Sydney (born 1996) whom he fathered with Trinidadian journalist and model Leasel Rovedas. Sydney is so named as a tribute to one of Lara's favourite grounds, the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...

, where Lara scored his first Test century- the highly acclaimed 277 in the 1992–93 season. His father died in 1989 of a heart attack and his mother died in 2002 of cancer. Lara has close ties with Trinidadian business mogul Wayne Armogan, who is the son of late Trinidadian Lester Armogan.

In 2009, Lara was made an honorary Member of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

 (AM) for services to West Indian and Australian cricket.

In late 2010, Lara and Rovedas welcomed another daughter, Tyla.

Records

  • Lara struck 277 runs against Australia
    Australian cricket team
    The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

     in Sydney
    Sydney Cricket Ground
    The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...

    , his maiden Test century
    Century (cricket)
    In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...

    , the fourth highest maiden Test century by any batsman, the highest individual score in all Tests between the two teams and the fourth-highest century ever recorded against Australia by any Test batsman.
  • He became the first man to score seven centuries in eight first-class
    First-class cricket
    First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

     innings
    , the first being the record 375 against England
    English cricket team
    The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

     and the last being the record 501 not out against Durham
    Durham County Cricket Club
    Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...

    .
  • After Matthew Hayden
    Matthew Hayden
    Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is a former Australian cricketer, and was signed to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL until the 2010 season. Hayden is a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels.Hayden holds the record...

     had eclipsed his Test record for highest individual score 375 by five runs in 2003, he reclaimed the record scoring 400 not out in 2004 against England. With these innings he became the second player to score two Test triple centuries, the second player to score two career quadruple centuries, the only player to achieve both these milestones, and regained the distinction of being the holder of both the record first-class individual innings and the record Test individual innings. He is the only player to break the world record twice.
  • In the same innings, he became the second batsman to score 1000 Test runs in five different years, four days after Matthew Hayden first set the record.
  • He was the all-time leading run scorer in Test cricket, a record he attained on 26 November 2005 until surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar
    Sachin Tendulkar
    Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

     on 17 October 2008.
  • He was the fastest batsmen to score 10,000 (with Sachin Tendulkar
    Sachin Tendulkar
    Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

    ) and 11,000 Test runs, in terms of number of innings.
  • He scored 34 centuries; joint-fourth along with Sunil Gavaskar
    Sunil Gavaskar
    Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...

    , on the all-time list behind Sachin Tendulkar
    Sachin Tendulkar
    Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

     , Jacques Kallis
    Jacques Kallis
    Jacques Henry Kallis is a South African cricketer. As an all-rounder he is a formidable right-handed batsman and fast-medium swingbowler. He is one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, being the only cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 12,000 runs and 250 wickets in both...

     (40), Ricky Ponting
    Ricky Ponting
    Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...

     (39) and Rahul Dravid
    Rahul Dravid
    Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...

     (36).
    • He has the most centuries for a West Indian
    • Nine of his centuries are double centuries (surpassed only by Donald Bradman
      Donald Bradman
      Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...

      )
    • Two of them are triple-centuries (matched by Australia's Donald Bradman
      Donald Bradman
      Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...

      , India's Virender Sehwag
      Virender Sehwag
      Virender Sehwag , affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or the Zen master of modern cricket, is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler...

      , and West Indies' Chris Gayle
      Chris Gayle
      Christopher Henry "Chris" Gayle is a Jamaican cricketer who currently plays international cricket for the West Indies. He captained the West Indies' side from 2007 to 2010. He plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and has also represented Worcestershire, the Western Warriors and the Kolkata Knight...

      ).
    • He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations. He achieved this feat in 2005 by scoring his first Test century against Pakistan at the Kensington Oval
      Kensington Oval
      The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket...

       in Bridgetown, Barbados.
  • He became the sixth batsman to score a century in one session, doing so against Pakistan on 21 November 2006.
  • Lara has scored an 20% of his team runs, a feat surpassed only by Bradman (23%) and George Headley
    George Headley
    George Alphonso Headley was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before the Second World War. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in...

     (21%). Lara scored 688 runs (42% of team output, a record for a series of three or more Tests, and the second highest aggregate runs in history for a three-Test series) in the 2001–02 tour of Sri Lanka
    Sri Lankan cricket team
    The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...

    .
  • He also scored a century and a double century in the third Test in that same Sri Lanka tour, a feat repeated only five other times in Test cricket history.
  • He has scored the most runs (351) on a losing side in a Test.
  • He scored the largest proportion (53.83 per cent) of his team's runs in a Test (221 out of 390 and 130 out of 262). He eclipsed the long-standing record of 51.88 per cent by the South African J. H. Sinclair (106 out of 177 and 4 out of 35) against England at Cape Town in an 1898–1899 series.
  • Lara holds the world record of scoring most runs in a single over
    Over (cricket)
    In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....

    (28 runs against left-arm spinner RJ Peterson
    Robin Peterson
    Robin John Peterson is a South African cricketer who bowls left arm spin. He is also a more than capable batsman, with a first class batting average of 26.35 as of 6 November 2005. His first class bowling average is a modest 36.36, however, and in Test matches it stands at 50.37...

     of South Africa
    South African cricket team
    The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...

    ) in Test cricket. He also scored 26 runs in a single over off the bowling of Danish Kaneria at Multan Cricket Stadium
    Multan
    Multan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...

     on 21 November 2006.
  • He scored the ninth fastest Test century, doing so off 77 balls against Pakistan
    Pakistani cricket team
    The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board , is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in , and cricket matches....

     on 21 November 2006.
  • With 164 catches, He is the fourth all-time catch-taker of non-Wicketkeepers, behind Rahul Dravid
    Rahul Dravid
    Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...

    , Mark Waugh
    Mark Waugh
    Mark Edward Waugh AM is a former Australian cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, and made his One-Day International debut in 1988. Waugh is regarded as one of the most elegant and gifted stroke makers to ever play the game. His nickname is "Junior" as...

     and Stephen Fleming
    Stephen Fleming
    Stephen Paul Fleming ONZM is a New Zealand cricketer, and the former captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, known as the Black Caps, in Test and one-day cricket...

    .
  • In 1994, he was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality
    BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality
    The BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year is an award presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. The award is presented to a non-British sportsperson considered to have made the most substantial contribution to a sport in that year. The award is decided by a...

     Award. In 1995, he was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year
    Wisden Cricketers of the Year
    The Wisden Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season"...

    .
  • Comfortably averaging
    Batting average
    Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

     over 50 per innings (the benchmark for batting greatness in Test cricket), Lara has been ranked the number one batsman in Test cricket in the PricewaterhouseCoopers
    PricewaterhouseCoopers
    PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....

     Cricket Ratings several times.
  • Lara has played some of his best innings in recent years. Wisden
    Wisden
    The Wisden Group was a group of companies formed by John Wisden & Co Ltd, publishers of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. As well as John Wisden & Co, the group included the The Wisden Cricketer magazine, Cricinfo – the world's highest traffic cricket website – and the Hawk-Eye computerised...

     published a top 100 list
    Wisden 100
    The Wisden 100 is a set of lists created by Wisden which attempted to objectively rate the 100 best individual innings performances in Test and One Day International cricket in each of the disciplines of batting and bowling...

     in July 2001, a distillation of the best performances from 1,552 Tests, 54,494 innings and 29,730 bowling performances. Three innings by Lara were placed in the top 15 (the most for any batsman in that range). His 153 not out in Bridgetown, Barbados, during West Indies' 2–2 home series draw against Australia in *1998–1999 was deemed the second greatest Test innings ever played, behind Bradman's 270 against England in the Third Test of the 1936–1937 series at Melbourne
    Melbourne Cricket Ground
    The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

    .

Test Cricket

Man of the Match Awards – Brian Lara
|Against |Venue Result Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 
Sydney, Australia Sydney Cricket Ground Match Drawn 1993
[2] 167 England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 
Georgetown
Georgetown, Guyana
Georgetown, estimated population 239,227 , is the capital and largest city of Guyana, located in the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at . The city serves...

, Guyana
Bourda West Indies won by an innings and 44 runs 1993
[3] 375 England St John's
St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda
St John's is the capital and largest city of Antigua and Barbuda, a country located in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. St John's is located at...

, Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

 
Antigua Recreation Ground Match Drawn 1993
[4] 179 England London, England Kennington Oval Match Drawn 1995
[5] 104 India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

St John’s, Antigua Antigua Recreation Ground Match Drawn 1997
[6] 213 Australia Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

, Jamaica
Sabina Park West Indies won by 10 wickets 1999
[7] 8/153* Australia Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...

, Barbados
Kensington Oval West Indies won by 1 wicket 1999
[8] 221/130 Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cricket team
The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...

 
Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

, Sri Lanka
Sinhalese Sport Club Ground Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets 2001
[9] 209 Sri Lanka Gros Islet
Gros Islet
Gros Islet is a community located near the northern tip of the island country of Saint Lucia. Originally a quiet fishing village, it has gone on to become one of the more popular tourist destinations in the country....

, Saint Lucia
Beausejour Stadium Match Drawn 2003
[10] 191/1 Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean cricket team
The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is administrated by Zimbabwe Cricket...

 
Bulawayo
Bulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, with an estimated population in 2010 of 2,000,000. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland...

, Zimbabwe
Queens Sports Club West Indies won by 128 runs 2003
[11] 400* England St John’s, Antigua Antigua Recreation Ground Match Drawn 2004
[12] 226/17 Australia Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, Australia
Adelaide Oval Australia won by 7 wickets 2005

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the Match Awards – Brian Lara
|Against |Venue Result Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 
Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

, Pakistan
National Stadium West Indies won by 24 runs 1991
[2] 69 Australia Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Australia
Brisbane Cricket Ground West Indies won by 12 runs 1992
[3] 88 Pakistan Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground West Indies won by 10 wickets 1992
[4] 72 Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

 
Brisbane, Australia Brisbane Cricket Ground West Indies won by 75 runs 1992
[5] 86 South Africa Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...

, Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 
Queens Park Oval West Indies won by 10 wickets 1992
[6] 128 Pakistan Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

, South Africa
Kingsmead West Indies won by 124 runs 1993
[7] 111* South Africa Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals – the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital.Bloemfontein is popularly and...

, South Africa
Springbok Park West Indies won by 9 wickets 1993
[8] 114 Pakistan Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

, Jamaica
Sabina Park West Indies won by 4 wickets 1993
[9] 95* Pakistan Port of Spain, Trinidad Queens Park Oval West Indies won by 5 wickets 1993
[10] 153 Pakistan Sharjah
Sharjah (city)
Sharjah is the third largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula.Sharjah is the seat of government of the emirate of Sharjah...

, UAE
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

 
Sharjah C.A. Stadium West Indies won by 6 wickets 1993
[11] 82 Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 
Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, India
Eden Gardens West Indies won by 7 wickets 1993
[12] 55* New Zealand Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, New Zealand
Eden Park West Indies won by 25 runs 1995
[13] 72 New Zealand Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

, New Zealand
Basin Reserve West Indies won by 41 runs 1995
[14] 139 Australia Port of Spain, Trinidad Queens Park Oval West Indies won by 133 runs 1995
[15] 169 Sri Lanka Sharjah, UAE Sharjah C. A. Stadium West Indies won by 4 runs 1995
[16] 111 South Africa Karachi, Pakistan National Stadium West Indies won by 19 runs 1996
[17] 146* New Zealand Port of Spain, Trinidad Queens Park Oval West Indies won by 7 wickets 1996
[18] 103* Pakistan Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Australia
W.A.C.A Grounds West Indies won by 5 wickets 1997
[19] 90 Australia Perth, Australia W.A.C.A Grounds West Indies won by 4 wickets 1997
[20] 88 Pakistan Sharjah, UAE Sharjah C.A. Stadium West Indies won by 43 runs 1997
[21] 51 England Kingstown
Kingstown
Kingstown is the chief port of Saint Vincent, and the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. With a population of 25,418 Kingstown is a centre for the island's agricultural industry and a port of entry for tourists...

, Saint Vincent
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean....

 
Arnos Vale Ground West Indies won by 4 wickets 1998
[22] 60 India Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 
Kallang Ground West Indies won by 42 runs 1999
[23] 117 Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

 
Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

, Bangladesh
Bangabandhu National Stadium West Indies won by 109 runs 1999
[24] 116* Australia Sydney, Australia Sydney Cricket Ground Australia won by 28 runs 2001
[25] 83* Zimbabwe Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Australia
W.A.C.A Grounds West Indies won by 44 runs 2001
[26] 59* New Zealand Gros Islet
Gros Islet
Gros Islet is a community located near the northern tip of the island country of Saint Lucia. Originally a quiet fishing village, it has gone on to become one of the more popular tourist destinations in the country....

, Saint Lucia
Beausejour Stadium West Indies won by 7 wickets 2002
[27] 103* Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 
Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

, Sri Lanka
Sinhalese Sports Club Ground West Indies won by 29 runs 2002
[28] 116 South Africa Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, South Africa
Newlands West Indies won by 3 runs 2003
[29] 80 Australia Port of Spain, Trinidad Queens Park Oval West Indies won by 39 runs 2003
[30] 156 Pakistan Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, Australia
Adelaide Oval West Indies won by 58 runs 2005

See also

  • Brian Lara Cricket series of video games
  • Brian Lara Stadium
    Brian Lara Stadium
    Brian Lara Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago that is currently under construction. When completed in 2007, it will be used mostly for cricket matches and was supposed to host matches during the 2007 Cricket World Cup, however ongoing delays in construction have...



External links

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