Brian Lara is a former cricketer and captain of the West Indies cricket team. He was a skilled batsman, and was known for his ability to bat for long and high-scoring innings. From his debut in international cricket in 1990 to his retirement in 2007, Lara scored 11,953 runs in Tests and 10,405 in One Day Internationals (ODI), accumulating a total of 53 centuries. His accomplishments with the bat saw him chosen as the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year in 1994, as well as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1995.
Lara scored a Test century for the first time in his fifth Test match in 1993 against Australia. His score of 277 in that match is the fourth-highest maiden century in Test history. The 375 he made against England in 1994 was the highest individual Test score for nine years, until Matthew Hayden surpassed it in 2003. Lara regained the world record in 2004 when he made an unbeaten 400, once again against England. It is also the only quadruple century in Test cricket. The unbeaten 153 he scored against Australia in 1999 was rated as the second-best Test innings of all time by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2001. He has scored more than 200 runs on nine occasions, the highest after Donald Bradman and Kumar Sangakkara Alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle, he is one of four batsmen who have scored triple centuries on two occasions. Lara scored 34 centuries during his Test career, the highest number by a West Indian player. He is ranked sixth for the highest number of centuries in a career along with Mahela Jayawardene, Sunil Gavaskar and Younis Khan, behind Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Rahul Dravid.
Lara's first ODI century came more than two years after his debut match, when he scored 128 against Pakistan. His career best is 169 runs made against Sri Lanka in 1995. It is also the third highest individual score by a West Indian batsman. The 117 he made against Bangladesh in 1999 is the fifth fastest century in ODI cricket. It was made in 45 balls at a strike rate of 188.70, reaching the boundary on eighteen occasions and clearing it on four. During his career, he scored more than 150 runs on three occasions. By the time of his retirement, he had scored 19 centuries in ODI matches. This is the second highest number of centuries scored by a single batsman for the West Indies, a record that Chris Gayle surpassed.
Key * Remained not out Captain in that match Player of the match (D/L) Result was determined by the Duckworth–Lewis method
Test cricket centuries
No. Score Against Pos.Inn. Test Venue H/A Date Result 1 277 4 2 1/5 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Away Drawn 2 167 3 2 2/5 Bourda, Georgetown Home Won 3 375 3 1 5/5 Antigua Recreation Ground, St. John's Home Drawn 4 147 3 1 2/2 Basin Reserve, Wellington Away Won 5 145 3 3 4/6 Old Trafford, Manchester Away Lost 6 152 3 2 5/6 Trent Bridge, Nottingham Away Drawn 7 179 4 2 6/6 The Oval, London Away Drawn 8 132 4 2 5/5 WACA Ground, Perth Away Won 9 103 4 1 4/5 Antigua Recreation Ground, St. John's Home Drawn 10 115 3 3 2/2 Arnos Vale Stadium, Kingstown Home Drawn 11 213 4 2 2/4 Sabina Park, Kingston Home Won 12 153* 5 4 3/4 Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Home Won 13 100 4 2 4/4 Antigua Recreation Ground, St. John's Home Lost 14 112 4 3 3/5 Old Trafford, Manchester Away Drawn 15 182 4 1 3/5 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Away Lost 16 178 4 1 1/3 Galle International Stadium, Galle Away Lost 17 221 4 1 3/3 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Away Lost 18 130 4 3 3/3 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Away Lost 19 110 4 3 1/4 Bourda, Georgetown Home Lost 20 122 4 4 2/4 Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain Home Lost 21 209 4 2 1/2 Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet Home Drawn 22 191 4 1 2/2 Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo Away Won 23 202 4 2 1/4 Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg Away Lost 24 115 4 2 3/4 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town Away Drawn 25 400* 3 1 4/4 Antigua Recreation Ground, St. John's Home Drawn 26 120 4 2 2/2 Sabina Park, Kingston Home Won 27 196 4 1 2/4 Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain Home Lost 28 176 4 1 3/4 Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Home Lost 29 130 4 1 1/2 Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Home Won 30 153 4 2 2/2 Sabina Park, Kingston Home Lost 31 226 4 1 3/3 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Away Lost 32 120 3 3 2/4 Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet Home Drawn 33 122 4 3 1/3 Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Away Lost 34 216 3 2 2/3 Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan Away Drawn
ODI centuries No. Score Against Pos.Inn. S.R. Venue H/A/N Date Result 1 128* 2 1 102.40 Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, Durban Neutral Won 2 111* 2 2 79.28 Springbok Park, Bloemfontein Away Won 3 114 1 2 98.27 Sabina Park, Kingston Home Won 4 153 2 2 106.99 Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah Neutral Won 5 139 3 1 113.00 Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain Home Won 6 169 3 1 131.00 Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah Neutral Won 7 111 3 1 118.08 National Stadium, Karachi Neutral Won 8 146* 3 2 108.95 Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain Home Won 9 104 3 2 100.97 Arnos Vale Stadium, Kingstown Home Won 10 102 3 2 89.47 The Gabba, Brisbane Away Won 11 103* 3 2 88.79 WACA Ground, Perth Neutral Won 12 110 3 2 103.77 Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Home Lost 13 117 2 1 188.70 Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka Away Won 14 116* 4 2 109.43 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Away Lost (D/L) 15 111 3 1 92.50 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Neutral Won 16 116 3 1 86.56 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town Away Won 17 116 3 1 109.43 Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Home Lost 18 113 3 1 137.80 Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo Away Won 19 156 4 1 113.04 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Neutral Won
References General
Specific
External links Player profile of Lara at Cricinfo