Lara racks up more records

WEST INDIES captain Brian Charles Lara seems like a man obsessed with cricket records, and of course the defeat on Wednesday would have hurt him badly.

But the Second Cable & Wireless Test would have ended as a bitter-sweet and yet memorable match for him and all those who saw the enthralling spectacle at the famous Queen’s Park Oval. The toughness of the Aussies seem to bring out the best in Lara who recorded his first ever Test century at the QP Oval, his home ground, when he attempted to lead his team to a highly-improbable victory on Wednesday. The left-handed maestro sparkled and entertained home town supporters with a superlative 122, his 20th Test century.

Among the West Indians greats, he is now third in the leading centurions list behind Sir Gary Sobers 26 and Sir Vivian Richards 24. He edged past Clive Lloyd and Gordon Greenidge with 19 each. When he hammered the belligerent 91 in the first innings in his 46th Tests in the Caribbean, Lara took his home Test runs tally to 4,004 to become the second West Indian batsman to achieve the feat of getting 4,000 or more runs. The 33-year-old had joined his mentor Sobers who had amassed 4,075 in 44 matches for an incredible average of 66.80 in the region. And with his historic 122 on Wednesday, he eclipsed Sobers’ regional Test tally and towers over all-comers with a grand total of 4,126 for an average of 55.01 including nine centuries and 22 fifties. The prolific Lara also achieved another significant milestone in his illustrious international career.

In Guyana, he became the fifth West Indian to have amassed over 2,000 Test runs against Australia and with his impressive 91 and 122 he became the sixth Trinidadian to score a century at their home ground following in the footsteps of Andy Ganteaume, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, Charlie Davis, Larry Gomes and his younger compatriot Daren Ganga (117) who achieved the feat in his first appearance in the first innings. Lara became the second Trinidadian, after Ganga, to get the coveted triple-figure mark against Australia on the home track. Ganga and Lara had joined the elite list of five other West Indians to have scored a century against Australia at the 107-year-old Oval. Sir Clyde Walcott, Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Alvin Kallicharran and Jeffrey Dujon accomplished their feats against earlier touring Tests sides.

He went past Sir Viv Richards 2,266 (34 matches, 54 innings), Desmond Haynes 2,233, Clive Lloyd 2,211 and Richie Richardson 2,175.  Ganga and Lara also joined the elite list of five other West Indians to have scored a century against Australia at the 107-year-old Oval.  In acknowledging his landmark century before his adoring fans, Lara said: “A hundred is not what I was looking for, I was looking to bat as long as possible, hopefully for the entire day.” Lara has already chalked up eight centuries against the Australians and needs one more to equal Richie Richardson’s nine against the world champions.