Brian Lara

Brian Charles Lara was born on May 2, 1969, in the small village of Cantaro in Santa Cruz, Trinidad, the tenth of eleven children. His extraordinary talent was apparent from childhood, and he was coached by Joey Carew, a former West Indies opener. Lara joined the Harvard Coaching Clinic at the age of six and quickly rose through the ranks of Trinidad and Tobago cricket. He made his Test debut against Pakistan in Lahore in December 1990, but it was his 277 against Australia in Sydney in January 1993 that announced him to the world as a batsman of rare brilliance. That innings, played at just 23 years of age, demonstrated the flamboyant left-handed stroke-play that would become his hallmark.

The year 1994 was the most extraordinary in Lara's career. In April, he scored 375 against England at the Antigua Recreation Ground, breaking Sir Garfield Sobers' 36-year-old record for the highest individual Test score. Just weeks later, playing for Warwickshire in English county cricket, he scored 501 not out against Durham at Edgbaston -- the highest score ever recorded in first-class cricket, a record that still stands. He became the only batsman in history to hold both the Test and first-class records simultaneously. A decade later, in April 2004, Lara reclaimed the Test record by scoring 400 not out against England at the same venue in Antigua where he had made 375, after Matthew Hayden had briefly held the record with 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003.

What made Lara's achievements all the more remarkable was the context in which they were achieved. Unlike Tendulkar, Ponting, or Bradman, Lara played much of his career in a West Indies team in decline, often carrying the burden of run-scoring almost single-handedly. His 153 not out against Australia in Barbados in 1999, which led the West Indies to a famous victory after following on, is regarded as one of the greatest Test innings ever played. By the time he retired in 2007 after the World Cup, Lara had accumulated 11,953 Test runs at 52.88 with 34 centuries. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2012, and received the Trinity Cross, Trinidad and Tobago's highest national honour, for his contributions to cricket.