HT Archives: Maestro rewrites records, becomes first to score 400
Brian Lara became the first batsman to score 400 runs in a Test innings, surpassing Matthew Hayden's 380 during a match against England.
West Indies captain Brian Lara became the first batsman in Test cricket’s history to score 400 runs in an innings as he passed Australian opener Matthew Hayden’s 380 on the third day of the final match against England on Monday and reclaimed the record for the highest individual in the game’s history.
Almost 10 years after he hit 375 against England, creating a world record on the same ground, Lara took his score from 313 overnight to 380 with a straight six off spinner Gareth Batty before sweeping him for four next ball. Lara leapt with delight before being congratulated by England’s players as the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Hayden had bettered Lara’s 1994 record of 375 nearly six months ago during his blitzkrieg innings against Zimbabwe in Perth. Lara had phoned Hayden to congratulate him when he achieved the feat.
“It would be great to be able to return that favour and give him a call and say, ‘Well done,” Hayden said from Brisbane on Monday.
Lara continued to target the English bowlers in his trademark style as he inched closer to the 400-mark, eventually crossing the milestone with a single.
A packed crowd of more than 12,000, over half of them England supporters, rose to acclaim Lara’s feat as he removed his helmet, jumped, and punched the air in celebration. A contingent of policemen prevented a crowd invasion, but Baldwin Spencer, recently elected Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, led a small delegation onto the field to offer congratulations. Before resuming strike, Lara paused to kiss the pitch.
Lara showed signs of weariness during his marathon effort and was tested by fiery short-pitched bowling with the third new ball by England’s fastest bowler, Stephen Harmison.
But the pitch remained ideal for batting in clear, sunny weather, and England’s woes were compounded when Harmison was barred from bowling for the rest of the innings after his third warning from umpires Aleem Dar of Pakistan and Darrel Hair of Australia for running on the unrestricted area of the pitch.
Lara joined the great Sir Donald Bradman as the only other cricketer to score two triple hundreds in Test cricket. Bradman scored 334 in 1930 and 304 in 1934, both against England at Leeds.
The West Indies, which have lost the previous three Tests in the series against England, are virtually certain of avoiding a historic clean sweep as they declared at the score of 751 for five. Ridley Jacobs was not out 107.
Lara passed 300 off 404 balls, 350 off 494 and 400 off 582. He scored 43 boundaries and four sixes. It was his 25th Test score over 100, his seventh better than 200. Only Bradman, with 12, has more over 200.
On Sunday, after reaching his second triple century in Tests, Lara had said, “There’s still a lot of time left in the game, there are still three days. I don’t know about individual records. We’re looking to pile on the runs and maybe let the pitch deteriorate a bit more and see if our howlers can work it.”
