Brian Lara Trinidadian Cricketer From Santa Cruz

Early life

Brian Charles Lara was born on 2 May 1969 in Santa Cruz, Trinidad, one of eleven children. At the age of six his father Bunty and an older sister enrolled him in a weekly Sunday coaching clinic, where he learned batting technique at a very young age. He attended St. Joseph's Roman Catholic primary school and San Juan Secondary School before moving to Fatima College at fourteen, where the coach Harry Ramdass guided his development. In the schoolboys' league that year he scored 745 runs at an average above 126, which earned a place in the Trinidad and Tobago under-16 team. He played in the West Indies under-19 tournament at fifteen.

Career

In the 1987 West Indies Youth Championships Lara scored 498 runs, passing the earlier tournament record of 480, and captained Trinidad and Tobago to the title. He made his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago in January 1988 and led a West Indies team at the Bicentennial Youth World Cup in Australia later that year. In 1990 he became the youngest captain in the history of Trinidad and Tobago cricket, and in the same year he made his Test and one-day international debuts against Pakistan.

His first Test century came in Sydney in January 1993, when he scored 277 against Australia in his fifth Test. He named his daughter Sydney after the innings. In 1994 he broke the world record for the highest Test score with 375 against England, and later that year he scored 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston, which remains the highest individual score in first-class cricket. He played for Warwickshire from 1994 to 1998, and also appeared for the Northerns side in 1992-93. In 2004 he reclaimed the Test record with an unbeaten 400 against England, also in Antigua, after Matthew Hayden had passed his earlier mark in 2003. He is the only batter to have held the Test record twice.

Lara captained the West Indies in 1998 and 1999, again from 2003, and for a third time in 2006. In 1999 he scored 213 in the second Test and an unbeaten 153 in the third Test of a series against Australia, being named man of the match in both and man of the series; Wisden placed the 153 second among the finest Test innings. In 2001 he scored 688 runs in a three-match Test series in Sri Lanka, including a double-century and a century in the same match. In September 2004, under his captaincy, the West Indies won the ICC Champions Trophy in England. In November 2005 he passed Allan Border to become the leading run scorer in Test cricket, a position he held until Sachin Tendulkar overtook him in October 2008. In December 2006 he became the first West Indian to pass 10,000 one-day international runs.

He announced his retirement from international cricket in April 2007, and his last match was a World Cup game against England on 21 April 2007. He later signed with the Indian Cricket League and returned to the Trinidad and Tobago side for part of the 2008 domestic season. In 2010 he joined the Zimbabwean team Southern Rocks and scored 65 in his first Twenty20 match. He played in exhibition matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's in 2010 and 2014. In 2012 he became a brand ambassador for the Chittagong Kings in the Bangladesh Premier League, and in December 2021 he was named batting coach and strategic adviser to Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2022 Indian Premier League season. He also appears as a writer on the 2004 film Vaanam Vasappadum, his only listed screen credit.

Recognition

Lara was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1995 and was a recipient of the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award in 1994. In 2009 he was made an honorary Member of the Order of Australia for services to West Indian and Australian cricket. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Sheffield in 2007, the University of the West Indies in 2011 and D Y Patil International University in 2019, and was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in September 2012. The Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago, opened in 2017, carries his name.

Public roles

Lara has served as an Ambassador for Sport of Trinidad and Tobago, promoting the country abroad. He founded the Pearl and Bunty Lara Foundation, a charity named after his parents that addresses health and social care.