Lara makes hefty donations

West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara has celebrated scoring 10,000 Test runs with donations to ten local charities in memory of his late parents Bunty and Pearl Lara. The champion left-handed batsman hosted a hand-over function at the Veni Mange Restaurant in Woodbrook yesterday where he handed over cheques to the value of $100,000. Each of the ten local charities received $10,000 to help in its running of its affairs. “I am very happy to be in a position to hand over this money to the charities in the memory of my parents Bunty and Pearl. I wanted to do something special after getting to 10,000 Test runs and there is no better way than this to celebrate,” Lara said yesterday. Two years ago, Lara with assistance from his sister Agnes, launched the Pearl and Bunty Lara Charitable Foundation to assist locals in all walks of life.

Since then the world’s double record batting star has made sizable contributions to various charities in his bid to make a difference to the lives of his countrymen. The charities receiving donations from Lara are Lupus Society, Creedo Foundation for Justice, St Michael School for Boys, Marian House, Mary Care Centre, St Dominique Children Home, Cyril Ross Nursery, CRY Foundation, Margaret Kistow’s Children Home; and Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society. Lara is among only four batsmen to have reached 10,000 Test runs. The others are Steve Waugh, Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar. But he is the fastest to reach the magical figure in only 111 Tests (195 innings). He is also tied with Sir Gary Sobers as the West Indian with the most Test centuries — 26 having just missed out on his 27th when he was out for 95 in the recent Third Test against England at Old Trafford, Manchester.