‘It’s not what Lara gets but what he does with it’

When Brian Lara shattered Gary Sobers’ record of 365 runs in 1994 to become the highest Test scorer in international cricket, and six weeks later set the first class record of 501 runs in county cricket, the accolades mounted and a world of opportunities was open to him. Imagine what prospects lay before him now, now that he has pushed the boundaries of Test cricket with his fantastic 400. Ten years ago he was honoured the “BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award” — an award which was previously held by greats Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Boris Becker, Tiger Woods, Maurice Greene, Ronaldo, Gary Sobers, and now currently held by Lance Armstrong. Lara was also named the “Wisden Cricketer of the Year.”

Endorsements reeled in. Since then he has been the spokesperson for the local telecommunications company TSTT, Angostura Ltd and has recently signed with Indian company Madras Rubber Factory. He was given 23,000 sq feet of land by the government of Trinidad and Tobago worth TT$690,000 and half  acre of prime residential land valued at TT$93,000 by the government of Jamaica, which collectively, are now worth millions. Apart from other investments he has made for himself in the area of real estate, Lara has built a sprawling villa at Lady Chancellor, St Ann’s. The latter, according to his friend and local manager for Dwight Yorke, Timothy Nafziger, “was probably the best thing to happen to him. It is not how much you earn, but what you do with it. At the time it (land given to him) was worth nothing, now it’s off the charts.” As to how he should be honoured by the government, the five-time holder of the WITCO Sportsman of the Year award and holder of the Trinity Cross, should be given the option, said West Indies Cricket Board selector Joey Carew. “Brian would know what he wants and the government should come to an understanding,” Carew told Sunday Newsday.

Carew said it was “tremendously satisfying” to see Lara attain such a feat. “I felt as happy as I did when he scored 375. He scored it with mere professionalism, top class concentration and physical fitness. What he may try to achieve now is to try to score more hundreds in test cricket to get closer to the position of being rated one to three in the world, doing so he would increase his aggregate and be competitive in the listing of players who have scored the most runs.” In a Fox Sports article, Lara was described as “the most gloriously gifted batsman of his time.”

The article stated: “In the process he has done a huge service to the faltering reputation of West Indies cricket. Lara is to contemporary West Indies what Don Bradman, the only other Test batsman to pass 300 more than once, was to Australia before World War II.” The batsman from whom he wrestled the record, Matthew Hayden, said: “I spoke to Brian over the phone and passed on my congratulations for a truly amazing effort. I feel proud to know he’s conquered me with such an awesome performance. I wanted to let him know how appreciative I was when he contacted me in Perth last October... Breaking Brian’s record against Zimbabwe was one of the most memorable days of my cricketing life.”

England captain Michael Vaughan was also congratulatory. He said of Lara: “He is one of the all-time great players, he has achieved something that has never been achieved before even with the amount of pressure he had on him before the start of this Test. He will go down as one of the greats of the game and it will take some player and some performance to beat his 400.” Chairman of Selectors England’s David Graveney offered his thoughts on England’s performance: “I know the lads were very keen to make even more history by winning four-nil, but obviously after that fantastic innings by Brian Lara it was a matter of actually saving the game... Whatever they could have hoped to gain was taken away from them.

We were pretty tired by the end — there were pretty muted celebrations. It was never going to compare with the celebrations in Barbados.” Now 34 years old, many has described Lara as a wiser man. He has had his moments of bad temper, being fined for dissent towards the umpire. His batting slump a few years ago was blamed on 18-year-old English model Lynnsey Ward. But, he has been able to fight his demons. As the pressure still mounts, he has remained calm and supportive despite his faltering players and has pledged his “stick-to-it-iveness” in serving the West Indies.