Brian Lara - born to break records
By Donald Duff
Stabroek News
April 23, 2007
One of the greatest if not the greatest batsman to ever grace a cricket field retired from international cricket on Saturday.
Brian Charles Lara, the Prince of Port-of-Spain played his final innings in international cricket against the old masters England in what has been a record-breaking career.
Lara, it seems, was born to break records.
He made an ordinary test and one-day debut against Pakistan in 1990 scoring 44 and five in the test and 11 runs in the ODI game.
However, whilst scoring his first test century (277 against Australia) three years later, there was talk that the then world record of 365 not out made by Sir Garifeld Sobers, was under threat.
At the time many viewed the talk as far-fetched optimism until Lara dispelled the doubts of the Thomases by becoming the first person to break the 36-year-old mark with his 375 against England in Antigua in 1994.
This was to be the start of Lara's assault on the existing batting records and at one stage it seemed as if he would end his playing days with almost all if not all of the major individual batting records there were.
Less than two months after his 365, Lara took the English county game by storm reeling off six centuries in seven matches for Warwickshire and capping this phenomenal run with the highest individual score in first class cricket a staggering 501 not out against Durham.
Not content with overtaking Sobers, he broke Sir Vivian Richards West Indian record of 8540 runs when he hammered 191 against Zimbabwe.
Next up was South Africa and Lara blasted 4, 6, 6, 4, 4, and 4 off a Robin Pietersen over in 2003 to break the world record of most runs in an over in test cricket.
Two other records followed, his eclipsing of Allan Border's record of 11,174 test runs and probably his crowning moment when he became the first and only batsman to score 400 test runs against England in April 2004 in Antigua.
It just so happened that in doing so he broke Matthew Hayden's test record score of 380.
Saturday's game which the West Indies lost by the narrow margin of one wicket was not only Lara's last match, it was also the West Indies team's final game of the International Cricket Council's Cricket 2007 World Cup competition which the Caribbean region hosted.
The defeat, and Lara's score of 18 run out brought an almost anti-climatic end to what was a thrilling, record-breaking and otherwise turbulent career.
It was clear that Lara did not want to retire from all forms of cricket when he earlier decided to retire from One-Day Internationals only.
Perhaps he had toyed with the idea of one final tour to England for his stated goal of scoring a test century at Lord's one of the few milestones to have eluded him.
And given the nature of the man who has often been accused of having his own way in West Indies cricket and whom it was viewed was of the opinion that he and only he would decide when he would leave the international stage, Thursday's decision came as somewhat of a shock.
Perhaps Lara in some sacrificial sort of way wanted to take the blame for the team's dismal showing on his broad shoulders in a magnanimous gesture.
Lara probably felt that such a decision would not lead to a massive finger pointing in the blame game which is sure to follow and would allow West Indies coach Bennett King to complete his three-year stint.
Or he might have decided to pre-empt the decision of the West Indies selectors who might not have selected him for the England tour which is a mere three weeks away.
While it is difficult not to believe that Lara was in some way part of the problem which has affected West Indies cricket over the years, he is not wholly to blame as some might feel.
Certainly some of the support cast while basking in the celebrity status of being among the highest paid sportsmen in the region complete with gold chain and designer sunshades had they been consistent performers which Lara undoubtedly was, West Indies cricket would have been in a much healthier state.
Lara's decision to retire therefore, should not stop the West Indies Cricket Board from setting up a committee and having an inquiry as to why the regional team performed so disastrously.
While some think that there has been a decline in West Indies' cricket there is a school of thought that even though there has not been much development in the sport in terms of coaching, infrastructure and facilities (until now) the real decline has been in the standard of cricket played by the West Indies senior team. One tends to measure cricket standards and development by the barometer of the regional team's performance and the WICB needs to take a microscopic look at the game in the aftermath of the team's recent showing.
The performance of the regional side indicate some outstanding individual performances but those performances have not been consistent enough to impact on the success of the team.
This has been borne out in the fact that there are limited instances where outstanding individual performances have resulted in victory for the team.
Lara has featured in two of those instances and his 213 and 153 not out against Australia in the 1999 Series rank among the best of those performances.
And so it is no wonder that the fans are divided on the issue of Lara's retirement.
Some seem to think that it was time for Lara to retire while others feel that a player who has served West Indies cricket for close to two decades and has done so much for West Indies cricket, should not have been allowed to depart international cricket in such a manner.
But what exactly has been the reason why Lara has had a change of heart and was no longer interested in touring England?
In his latest statement on the issue Lara told reporters after Saturday's defeat that he had picked himself to tour England.
"No, I don't know anything about any selection, I know I sat with the selectors in Antigua to pick the team for England and, of course, I picked myself."
One wonders about the accuracy of that statement and in what capacity Lara sat with the selectors after all, to the best of knowledge, Lara was not appointed West Indies captain for the tour of England.
Lara's statements also seems to contradict the widely held view that two names were submitted by the West Indies selectors for the post of West Indies captain and neither was his.
It is a scenario as baffling as Bob Woolmer's murder. One may never know the real reason behind Lara's decision to retire but that decision should be the starting point for those who say they have West Indies cricket at heart. Lara's retirement gives those in charge of the game the opportunity to reflect on all that transpired in the past and to start once and for all the process of halting the regional team's slide and finding the way for the maroon-clad team to be once again the best team in the world in much the same way that Brian Charles Lara was the best batsman in the world.