Brian Lara - The Prince

[ajithfederer]

Brian Charles Lara (born May 2, 1969) (nicknamed "The Prince of Port-of-Spain" or simply "The Prince") is a West Indian cricketer. Lara is acknowledged as one of the world's greatest batsmen, having several times topped the Test batting rankings and being the current world record holder for the highest individual innings score and the all-time leading run scorer in Test cricket.

Lara's career statistics suggest unmitigated genius, but in reality his career has been bedevilled by clashes with authority, injury and loss of form, all against the backdrop of West Indies being the strongest team in world cricket at the time of his debut (indeed, Lara was unable to break into the test side on his first tour with the side) but suffering a decline to the point where victories against leading test sides are few and far between. Many have wondered what Lara might have achieved had he been simply another great player in the all-conquering teams of the 1970s and 80s under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards, rather than the sole great batsman carrying the hopes of a rapidly declining side.

Lara has shown an almost unparalleled ability to build massive innings, and holds several world records for high scoring. He has the highest individual score in both first-class cricket (501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994) and Test cricket (400 not out for the West Indies against England in 2004). He also holds the record for the highest total number of runs in a Test career, after overtaking Allan Border in November 2005. He is the only man to have reclaimed the Test record score, having scored 375 against England in 1994, a record that stood until Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003. His 400 not out also made him the second player after Don Bradman to score two Test triple-centuries, and the second after Bill Ponsford to score two first-class quadruple-centuries. He has scored eight double centuries in Test cricket, second only to Bradman's twelve.

Lara captained the West Indies from 1997 to 1999. He was reappointed as captain against the touring Australians in 2003, and struck 110 in his first Test match back in charge, showing signs of him returning to his best. In September 2004, West Indies won the ICC Champions Trophy in England under his captaincy and seemed to have finally started their comeback from years of poor performance.

In March 2005, Lara declined selection for the West Indies team because of a dispute over his personal Cable & Wireless sponsorship deal, which clashed with the Cricket Board's main sponsor, Digicel. Six other players were involved in this dispute, including stars Christopher Gayle, Ramnresh Sarwan, and Dwayne Bravo. In fact, Lara declined selection in a stand of solidarity, when these players were dropped because of their sponsorship deals. The issue was resolved after the first Test of the series against the touring South African team. Lara returned to the team for the second Test (and scored a huge first innings score of 196), but in the process lost his captaincy indefinitely to the newly-appointed Shivnarine Chanderpaul. In the next Test, against the same opponents, he scored a majestic 176 in the first innings, which was hailed by many as one of his best innings in recent years. After an indifferent one day series against South Africa, he once again established himself as one of the leading batsmen of the modern era when he scored his first Test century against the visiting Pakistanis in the first Test at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados.

On April 26, 2006 Lara was reappointed the captain of the West Indies cricket team for the third time. This followed the resignation of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had been captain for just thirteen months - in which the West Indies won just one of the 14 Test matches they had competed. In May 2006, Lara led the West Indies to successful One-Day series victories against Zimbabwe and India