West Indies' Brian Lara is one of the greatest batsmen the world has seen. In fact, many great bowlers of contemporary cricket rate Lara as a better all-round batsman against pace and spin than Sachin Tendulkar.
While the debate of who was the better batsman will never end, Lara made it clear on April 12, 2004 that no one can bat ‘big’ like him.
England had already won the four-match Test series in the Caribbean 3-0 with their newly formed pace attack of Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard decimating the hosts.
The first three Tests were played on fast and green surfaces, which played right in to the hands of the Englishmen.
For the fourth Test in St John’s, Antigua, the West Indies laid out a batting beauty. The side batting first was going to be at a huge advantage and it was the hosts who made the right call to bat first.
What followed was more than two days of an effortless and unrelenting batting master class by Lara as he tormented the same English bowlers who were almost unplayable in three previous Tests.
Ramnaresh Sarwan scored 90 while wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs hit an unbeaten 107. But both those knocks did not even register on the radar; it was all about the Lara show as the left-hander became the first batsman in history to score 400 in a Test innings.
In the process, he reclaimed the record of the highest individual Test score; his effort of 375 – set against the Englishmen in 1994 – had been usurped by Australia’s Matthew Hayden who had made 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003.
His marathon innings helped West Indies pile on a gargantuan 751-5 declared. The Windies probably batted a bit too long – into the third day – as England managed to hold out for a draw despite being bowled out for 285 in the first innings and being asked to follow on.
The Windies ended up losing the series 3-0. But at least Lara got to claim a record that will probably never be attempted again.
However, not everyone was impressed with the effort. Late commentator Tony Greig said the innings did not help the West Indies' cause at all.
"I'm certainly not raving about the innings," Greig was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "I have to praise it for the sheer fact that he stayed in for so long but it wasn't an innings that you could be in awe of.
"It was clear he had the record in mind and was just going to keep on grinding it out until he got there. As far as I'm concerned that is not a good way to play the game, especially when you're the captain."
After the match, Lara himself admitted the pain of the series defeat overshadowed his personal achievement.
"I am very happy, but at the end of the day my spirit is still dampened by the series result," he said.
