Brian Lara's Historical 400*
Brian Charles Lara is one of the best batsmen of the entire Cricket history and in the ever-last argument of the best batsmen in test format. He was born at 2nd May, 1969 in Trinidad. His debut in first-class was at 1987/88. He had his international debut for West Indies at 9th November, 1990 against Pakistan in ODI format. He scored 11 runs out of 20 balls in that match. He is the record holder of highest test runs in an innings. He built that record by scoring an unbeaten 400* runs against England at 12th April, 2004 in St.John's. This is Mashhud Hasan from frenzyweb360 and today I'm going to talk about Brian Lara's historical innings of 400* runs.
Brian Lara is the 7th highest run scorer in the history of test cricket. He has played for West Indies and World XI in this format and scored 11,953 runs in 131 matches (232 innings) at an average of 52.88 along with 34 centuries and 48 fifties. With his pinch hitting ability and aggression with the bat, he has also secured 10th position in the race of the most career runs in One Day Internationals. In this format, he has played 299 matches (289 innings) and scored 10,405 runs at an average of 40.48 and a strike-rate of 79.51, including 19 centuries and 63 fifties. He is the 7th highest international run scorer, scored 22,358 runs with a brilliant average of 46.28 across all formats. Not to forget that he has 22,156 first-class runs and holds the record of highest first-class innings (501* vs Warwickshire, 2 June 1994). However, test format had been his favorite format through-out his entire career and he has cemented his legacy mainly by scoring tons of runs and breaking records in test format. And the most famous one is his 400* against England, which is still now the highest innings in test cricket for 14 years. In this content. I'm going to focus on his historical innings.
England had a 4-test tour against West Indies and they were leading the series by 3-0 in their first three matches. There were no chance of avenging those losses but last test was the way for West Indies to gain the redemption. Thanks to Lara's record breaking 400*, West Indies was able to score a mammoth total of 751 runs by conceding 5 wickets in 202 overs and declared right after Lara reached the milestone. In front of Pedro Collins, Tino Best and Fidel Edwards' bowling attack, England got all-out for just 285 runs in their 1st innings. By following-on, they've scored 422-5 in their 2nd innings by depending on Michael Vaughan's 140 runs. But the entire spotlight went to Lara for the absolute legendary knock. At the 3rd wicket, he built 232 runs partnership with Ramnaresh Sarwan and 282* runs partnership at the 5th wicket with Ridley Jacobs where Ridley's contribution was only 107 runs.
Lara came to the crease when Darren Ganga got out after adding 33 runs with Gayle at the opening partnership. Lara had started his innings by scoring 4 with a square cut against Matt Hoggard. With his trademark pull shot by stepping up his front foot against Simon Jones' half-tracker, he scored a boundary to reach his fifty.With a classic cut through the point, he had reached his 25th century in test. By a brilliant flick over Simon Jones' half volley, he reached his 150. Then with a leg glance over Gareth Batty's finger-spin, he reached his 7th double ton. Against the same type of ball, he came over down the track to drive the ball through extra-cover to reach his 250.He was very consistent in his entire innings and batted with full control and temperament. When he was standing on 299, Batty delivered a side spin which Lara safely defensed and pushed it towards short-point to reach his 2nd triple ton. He reached his 350 out of 494 balls. He didn't show any nervousness but there was a bit of intensive moment during that time. He took 88 balls to reach his 400 runs from 350. In this short period, he showed his classy but aggressive batting which actually portrays his entire innings. When Gareth Batty was delivering side spins (which bounced unevenly), he wasn't getting carried away by hitting any straight batted shots but he showed calmness by holding his temperament and blocking those balls. Most of those off-breaks were defended by back-foot blocks or flicks. He was mainly attacking flighty deliveries by slog-sweeping the ball across the straight bat. He was more cunning against Batty's sliders which he was either late-cutting for strike-rotating or clean-cutting through the point for a ground-dragging boundary. Against one of Simon Jones' wide fuller length deliveries, he scored a double by hitting a picture-perfect square drive. Most of his shots were leg glances and sweeps that he played against front-foot aimed off-breaks. He smashed a six through the long-on by coming down the track over Michael Vaughan's good length delivery. He once again came down the track and slashed the same type of ball for a six and reached Matthew Hayden's 380 runs innings which was the highest individual test innings at that time. He broke Hayden's record with a slog-sweep against Batty. In that moment, the entire stadium was crowded and all of them were fanatic about his record-breaking moment. The president of Trinidad entered the stadium right after the record breaking moment and he showed respect to Brian Lara with a hand-shake. Slog sweep was one of his productive shots in that innings and the most memorable moment of that innings was when he rehashed that sweep through the third-man and became the first batsman ever to score a quadruple century.
That's how Lara had reached his quadruple ton. He batted naturally, he was relaxed, used the most of his foot-works, his shot selections were very accurate and calculative and he was really good at placing shots to the right direction for boundary. He didn't take any risks until bowlers were giving any loose deliveries. Most of his shots were ground-dragging. His innings is decorated with 43 fours and 4 sixes. He constantly batted for 778 minutes with no sign of nervousness. He was always focused on scoring runs, avoiding cross-shot attempts and selecting shots with proper timing, foot-work and placement.
Not to mention that this is not the only record that he has in his career. He passed his career by breaking many batting records and that's what made him a legend. With 34 centuries, he is the 6th highest centurion in test format. He is positioned 10th at most fifties (and over) in test cricket. He is one of 25 batsmen in test cricket history to have triple centuries and one of only 4 batsmen to score triple ton more than once. He has the most runs in a test match by a losing side (221 & 130 vs Sri Lanka ). Lara is also the 3rd highest double centurion, he has a total of 9 double tons (only Don Bradman and Kumar Sangakkara are ahead of him). He has so many batting records that have executed together to cement his legacy. Records are made to break. Maybe one day someone will hit an innings above four hundred. But Brian Lara's 400* against England will forever be remembered as the first ever quadruple century in cricket history.
Brian Lara is the 7th highest run scorer in the history of test cricket. He has played for West Indies and World XI in this format and scored 11,953 runs in 131 matches (232 innings) at an average of 52.88 along with 34 centuries and 48 fifties. With his pinch hitting ability and aggression with the bat, he has also secured 10th position in the race of the most career runs in One Day Internationals. In this format, he has played 299 matches (289 innings) and scored 10,405 runs at an average of 40.48 and a strike-rate of 79.51, including 19 centuries and 63 fifties. He is the 7th highest international run scorer, scored 22,358 runs with a brilliant average of 46.28 across all formats. Not to forget that he has 22,156 first-class runs and holds the record of highest first-class innings (501* vs Warwickshire, 2 June 1994). However, test format had been his favorite format through-out his entire career and he has cemented his legacy mainly by scoring tons of runs and breaking records in test format. And the most famous one is his 400* against England, which is still now the highest innings in test cricket for 14 years. In this content. I'm going to focus on his historical innings.
England had a 4-test tour against West Indies and they were leading the series by 3-0 in their first three matches. There were no chance of avenging those losses but last test was the way for West Indies to gain the redemption. Thanks to Lara's record breaking 400*, West Indies was able to score a mammoth total of 751 runs by conceding 5 wickets in 202 overs and declared right after Lara reached the milestone. In front of Pedro Collins, Tino Best and Fidel Edwards' bowling attack, England got all-out for just 285 runs in their 1st innings. By following-on, they've scored 422-5 in their 2nd innings by depending on Michael Vaughan's 140 runs. But the entire spotlight went to Lara for the absolute legendary knock. At the 3rd wicket, he built 232 runs partnership with Ramnaresh Sarwan and 282* runs partnership at the 5th wicket with Ridley Jacobs where Ridley's contribution was only 107 runs.
Lara came to the crease when Darren Ganga got out after adding 33 runs with Gayle at the opening partnership. Lara had started his innings by scoring 4 with a square cut against Matt Hoggard. With his trademark pull shot by stepping up his front foot against Simon Jones' half-tracker, he scored a boundary to reach his fifty.With a classic cut through the point, he had reached his 25th century in test. By a brilliant flick over Simon Jones' half volley, he reached his 150. Then with a leg glance over Gareth Batty's finger-spin, he reached his 7th double ton. Against the same type of ball, he came over down the track to drive the ball through extra-cover to reach his 250.He was very consistent in his entire innings and batted with full control and temperament. When he was standing on 299, Batty delivered a side spin which Lara safely defensed and pushed it towards short-point to reach his 2nd triple ton. He reached his 350 out of 494 balls. He didn't show any nervousness but there was a bit of intensive moment during that time. He took 88 balls to reach his 400 runs from 350. In this short period, he showed his classy but aggressive batting which actually portrays his entire innings. When Gareth Batty was delivering side spins (which bounced unevenly), he wasn't getting carried away by hitting any straight batted shots but he showed calmness by holding his temperament and blocking those balls. Most of those off-breaks were defended by back-foot blocks or flicks. He was mainly attacking flighty deliveries by slog-sweeping the ball across the straight bat. He was more cunning against Batty's sliders which he was either late-cutting for strike-rotating or clean-cutting through the point for a ground-dragging boundary. Against one of Simon Jones' wide fuller length deliveries, he scored a double by hitting a picture-perfect square drive. Most of his shots were leg glances and sweeps that he played against front-foot aimed off-breaks. He smashed a six through the long-on by coming down the track over Michael Vaughan's good length delivery. He once again came down the track and slashed the same type of ball for a six and reached Matthew Hayden's 380 runs innings which was the highest individual test innings at that time. He broke Hayden's record with a slog-sweep against Batty. In that moment, the entire stadium was crowded and all of them were fanatic about his record-breaking moment. The president of Trinidad entered the stadium right after the record breaking moment and he showed respect to Brian Lara with a hand-shake. Slog sweep was one of his productive shots in that innings and the most memorable moment of that innings was when he rehashed that sweep through the third-man and became the first batsman ever to score a quadruple century.
That's how Lara had reached his quadruple ton. He batted naturally, he was relaxed, used the most of his foot-works, his shot selections were very accurate and calculative and he was really good at placing shots to the right direction for boundary. He didn't take any risks until bowlers were giving any loose deliveries. Most of his shots were ground-dragging. His innings is decorated with 43 fours and 4 sixes. He constantly batted for 778 minutes with no sign of nervousness. He was always focused on scoring runs, avoiding cross-shot attempts and selecting shots with proper timing, foot-work and placement.
Not to mention that this is not the only record that he has in his career. He passed his career by breaking many batting records and that's what made him a legend. With 34 centuries, he is the 6th highest centurion in test format. He is positioned 10th at most fifties (and over) in test cricket. He is one of 25 batsmen in test cricket history to have triple centuries and one of only 4 batsmen to score triple ton more than once. He has the most runs in a test match by a losing side (221 & 130 vs Sri Lanka ). Lara is also the 3rd highest double centurion, he has a total of 9 double tons (only Don Bradman and Kumar Sangakkara are ahead of him). He has so many batting records that have executed together to cement his legacy. Records are made to break. Maybe one day someone will hit an innings above four hundred. But Brian Lara's 400* against England will forever be remembered as the first ever quadruple century in cricket history.
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