[Da_NeXt_PieTeRSeN]

Brian Lara will play his last international match against England on Saturday. lets look at the highlights of a long and illustrious career.



One-day debut v Pakistan at Karachi, 1990
Brian Lara made his one-day international debut against Pakistan at Karachi. He scored 11 and was trapped leg before by Waqar Younis.

Test debut v Pakistan at Lahore, 1990
Lara replaced Carlisle Best in the Test team and made his debut in the third Test against Pakistan at Lahore. He made 44 and 5 as the match was drawn.

Sizzler at Sydney v Australia at Sydney, 1993
Lara scored his maiden Test century, a sizzling 277 against Australia at Sydney. He rated it as his best innings and it was the fourth-highest maiden century in Test cricket.

Going past Sobers v England in Antigua, 1994
Sir Garry Sobers' 365 - the highest individual score in Tests - had stood for 36 years before Lara took to England at Antigua. Lara scored 375 out of West Indies's 593 in the first innings as the match was drawn. "I'm only 24, and I must try my best to keep going and to improve," Lara said. "I will be aiming to beat my record, and I think I can do it one day."

Birmingham blitz v Warwickshire v Durham, 1994
Less than two months after Lara had surpassed Sobers' 365, he smashed 501 for Warwickshire against Durham and broke Hanif Mohammad's 499 as the highest score in first-class cricket.


Captaincy beckons v India in Barbados, 1997
Lara's first assignment as captain was the third Test of the home series against India at Barbados. He made a crucial 45 in the second innings to set India a target of 120. West Indies won by 38 runs.

His brilliant best v Australia, Barbados, 1998-99
Lara, who went into the series against Australia with his captaincy under pressure, smacked 213 in the second Test and 100 in the fourth to give them a 2-2 draw. His most remarkable knock came in between at Bridgetown. Set 308 to win on a pitch which held few favours, West Indies slumped to 105 for 5. But Lara brilliantly marshalled the tail, adding 53 for the ninth wicket with Curtly Ambrose and nine vital runs for the last wicket with Courtney Walsh. Lara finished unbeaten on 153, an innings rated by Wisden.com in 2000 as the second-best in Test history.




Most runs in a losing sideDecember, 2001
Lara beat Andy Flower's 341 for most runs in a losing cause. Against Sri Lanka, Lara totalled 351 runs (221 and 130) but Sri Lanka still won by ten wickets


The Prince overtakes the King November, 2003
Lara hammered 191 off just 203 balls, his first century against Zimbabwe, to become the highest run-scorer for West Indies, breaking Vivian Richards' record of 8540. West Indies won the match by 128 runs to take the series 1-0.

4,6,6,4,4,4 December, 2003
West Indies were trailing by 228 runs in the first innings when Lara smashed 4,6,6,4,4,4, off Robin Peterson to break the world record for the most runs in an over. Lara went on to reach 202 but a second-innings collapse resulted in a 189-run South African victory.

Captaincy calls again March, 2003 He was handed the reigns of the captaincy for the second time against the visiting Australians.

First to 400 April, 2004
He became the first man to break the 400-run barrier. It came against England. Six months earlier, Matthew Hayden had scored 380 against Zimbabwe to break Lara's 375 against England but Lara became the only man to reclaim the Test record score. That 400 saw him become the second player after Don Bradman to score two Test triple-centuries, and the second after Bill Ponsford to score two first-class quadruple-centuries.


10,000 runs v England at Old Trafford, 2004
Going into the third Test at Old Trafford, Lara had 9993 Test runs. Andrew Flintoff removed him for a duck and 7 but that was enough for Lara to reach the magic figure.

Cup of joy. West Indies win the Champions Trophy September, 2004
He led West Indies to a famous ODI triumph in the ICC Champions Trophy in England when the unlikely pair of Ian Bradshaw and Courtney Browne steered West Indies home in a thriller.




Loses captaincy over sponsorship dispute March, 2005
He lost the captaincy following a dispute with the board over the sponsorship deal. He along with six other players were contracted to Cable and Wireless which clashed with the boards' sponsor, Digicel. Lara declined selection against the visiting South African side when the other rebel players were dropped. He came back for the second Test, after the issue was resolved, but lost his captaincy to Shivnarine Chanderpaul. He hit a scintillating 196 and 176 in the two Tests on return. That 196 saw him overtake Garry Sobers' tally of 26 tons to become the highest century-maker for West Indies.

Beyond 11,000 November, 2005
Lara not only joined the 11,000-club but also overtook Allan Border's world-record aggregate of 11,174 Test runs with a double-ton in the third Test at Adelaide. Lara, with eight double-centuries, moved clear of Wally Hammond's seven. Only Bradman, with 12, has more.

Third time lucky? April 2006
Following the resignation of Chanderpaul, Lara was reappointed as captain for the third time. In May, he led the side to an ODI series victory against India at home and took them to the final of the Champions Trophy in India.

Enters the 10,000-club December, 2006
He joined Sachin Tendulkar in the exclusive club of batsmen with more than 10,000 ODI runs. He was the fastest batsmen to score 10,000 and 11,000 Test runs, in terms of number of innings.

End of an era April 10, 2007
A year after he took over the reigns for the third time, Lara announced that he will be retiring from ODIs at the end of the World Cup. Ten days later, on April 20th, he announced his decision to quit from all forms of the game at the end of the tournament.

[lasanka]

Lara u will be missed by all!