Brian Lara

Brian Lara

TC, OCC
Lara in 2012
Personal information
Full name
Brian Charles Lara
Born (1969-05-02) 2 May 1969 (age 55)
Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingRight-arm leg break
RoleBatsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 196)6 December 1990 v Pakistan
Last Test27 November 2006 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 59)9 November 1990 v Pakistan
Last ODI21 April 2007 v England
ODI shirt no.9
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1987–2008Trinidad and Tobago
1992–1993Northern Transvaal
1994–1998Warwickshire
2010Southern Rocks
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 131 299 261 429
Runs scored 11,953 10,405 22,156 14,602
Batting average 52.88 40.48 51.88 39.67
100s/50s 34/48 19/63 65/88 27/86
Top score 400* 169 501* 169
Balls bowled 60 49 514 130
Wickets 4 4 5
Bowling average 15.25 104.00 29.80
5 wickets in innings 0 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 0
Best bowling 2/5 1/1 2/5
Catches/stumpings 164/– 120/– 320/– 177/–
Medal record
Men's Cricket
Representing  West Indies
ICC Champions Trophy
Winner 2004 England
Runner-up 1998 Kenya
Runner-up 2006 India
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 4 February 2012


Brian Charles Lara, TC, OCC (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer,[1][2] widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.[3][4][5] He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994,[6][7]and the record for the highest individual score in an international Test innings, after scoring 400 not out at Antigua during the 4th test against England in 2004. [8]

Lara also held, for 18 years, the record of scoring the highest number of runs in a single over of a Test match when he scored 28 runs off an over by Robin Peterson of South Africa in 2003, until his record was overtaken by Jasprit Bumrah in 2022.[9]As captain, Lara led the West Indies team to win the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, the first time the team won any major ICC trophy since winning the 1979 Cricket World Cup.

Lara topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions, and his match-winning performance of 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1999 was rated by Wisden 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 Test match of 1937.[10] Muttiah Muralitharan has hailed Lara as his toughest opponent among all batsmen in the world.[11]

Lara was awarded the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World awards in 1994 and 1995[12] and is also one of only three cricketers to receive the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, the other two being Sir Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne.[13] Brian Lara was appointed honorary member of the Order of Australia on 27 November 2009,[14] and in September 2012 he was inducted to the ICC's Hall of Fame as a 2012–13 season inductee.[15] In 2013, Lara received Honorary Life Membership of the MCC becoming the 31st West Indian to receive the honor.[16]

Brian Lara is popularly nicknamed as "The Prince of Port of Spain" or simply "The Prince".[17][18]

  1. ^ "Player Profile: Brian Lara". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  2. ^ Atherton, Mike (7 April 2008). "Genius of Brian Lara hailed by Wisden". The Times. UK. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  3. ^ Gough, Martin (26 November 2005). "Lara the best ever?". BBC News.
  4. ^ "Lara the greatest among his peers".
  5. ^ "501 reasons why Lara the best". Archived from the original on 28 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Brian Lara's 501 not out: The day Warwickshire's West Indies legend rewrote cricket records". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  7. ^ Martin, Ali (4 June 2019). "The Spin. Brian Lara's unbeaten 501, 25 years on, still looks unconquerable". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  8. ^ "Most runs in an innings". ESPNcricinfo.
  9. ^ "Stuart Broad bowls most expensive over in history of Test cricket - concedes 35 runs; Bumrah smashes 29 of those to set record". The Hindu. 2 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Wisden 100 hails Laxman, ignores Tendulkar". The Hindu. India. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010.
  11. ^ "Lara a tougher opponent than Tendulkar: Murali". Rediff.com.
  12. ^ Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World
  13. ^ "Sports Personality". BBC. 14 December 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  14. ^ "Brian Lara awarded Order of Australia". Yahoo! News. 27 November 2009. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009.
  15. ^ "Lara dedicates Hall of Fame honour to father". ESPNcricinfo. 16 September 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  16. ^ lords (19 July 2013). "Brian Lara accepts Honorary Life Membership of MCC". Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  17. ^ Burnett, Ian (8 July 2022). "Brian Lara, the Prince of Port of Spain". Caribbean National Weekly. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  18. ^ "The prince of Trinidad". ESPNcricinfo. 2 May 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2022.