LONDON, April 12: Over a decade studded by a triple Test century at one end and an unprecedented quadruple at the other, West Indies captain Brian Lara has shone with a flawed brilliance.
Lara, 400 not out, finally called a halt on Saturday on the third day of the final Test against England in St John's, Antigua, after an innings which saved his team from the ignominy of a series whitewash.
Only Don Bradman had scored two Test 300s before being surpassed by Lara and even the incomparable Australian never matched the elan and style of the 34-year-old Trinidadian.
Yet in the Caribbean Lara provokes a variety of emotions, with admiration of his transcendent skills countered by accusations that he carries at least some of the responsibility for the steady decline in West Indies' cricket.
Lara, born on May 2, 1969, in a village near Port-of-Spain, announced his presence on the world stage with 277 in the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney in January, 1993.
The compact left-hander with the exaggerated backlift had long been marked as a batsmen with rare gifts but, staggering as it seems in retrospect, he was forced to fight for a place in the sun.
He toured England in 1991 but was unable to win a place in the team until Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Jeffrey Dujon departed the international scene after the drawn series.
Lara's Sydney innings revived his team's fortunes, confirmed he was a worthy successor to the glittering line of great West Indies batsmen starting with George Headley, "the black Bradman", in the 1930s.
His performances in the following year elevated him into another realm. In a chanceless display spread over two days, Lara scored 375 in the fifth Test against England in Antigua, adding 10 runs to the mark set by Barbadian Garfield Sobers 36 years early.
Sobers, fresh from the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of his Test debut, was on hand to embrace his successor as world record holder. More was to follow. Lara scored six centuries in seven innings for Warwickshire in the county championship, culminating in a world record 501 against Durham. Acclaim accompanied his every move during the English summer.
Sobers, by common consent, was the finest all-rounder in history and, along with Bradman, one of the Wisden almanac's five cricketers of the 20th century. Despite playing cricket all year round, he made little money from the game, retiring just a few seasons before wages for international players increased dramatically.
But he was also not subject to the unrelenting gaze of the media in an age obsessed by the cult of the celebrity. Lara briefly withdrew from the team during their tour of England after a dressing room row. He then pulled out of the following visit to Australia two days before the team were due to leave.
Lara was a dissident voice at the 1996 World Cup and, after succeeding the dignified Richie Richardson as West Indies' captain, was sacked then reinstated during a players' strike before the 1998 tour of South Africa.
After two unforgettable innings (213 and 153 not out) which ensured a drawn 1999 series against Australia in the Caribbean, Lara resigned as captain in 2000 and took a break from the game. -Reuters
