Trinidad-born batsman Brian Lara has the distinction of holding the two most sought-after records batting records in cricket, namely the highest individual score in Test, and first-class, cricket. In April, 1994, just days after signing for Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Lara scored 375 for West Indies against England in Antigua, thereby beating the previous world record, 365, set by Sir Garfield Sobers in 1958. That record was surpassed by Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden who, in October, 2003, scored 380 against Zimbabwe in Perth, but reclaimed by Lara, courtesy of an unbeaten 400 against England, again in Antigua, the following April. An achievement that rivals some of my online blackjack winning runs!
On June 3, 1994, Lara came to the crease on the second day of a County Championship match between Warwickshire and Durham at Edgbaston Stadium, with Warwickshire at 8-1, following the early loss of opening batsman Dominic Ostler, in reply to a first innings total of 556-8 declared. He survived two early scares, being bowled, off a no-ball, by fellow West Indies’ international Anderson Cummins on 12 and dropped by wicketkeeper Chris Scott on 18, before settling in to reach 111, out of a total of 210-2, by the close of play.
The third day of the match was lost to rain and the following day was a rest day so, play resumed on June 5 with Warwickshire still needing 193 to avoid a follow-on. Nevertheless, Lara enjoyed stands of 314, 51 and 322 with Trevor Penney, Paul Smith and Keith Piper, for the third, fourth and fifth wickets, respectively. In the final over of the day, on 497, Lara was struck on the helmet by a ‘bouncer’ from occasional, medium-pace bowler John Morris, but drove the final ball of the day for four to take his score to 501 not out; in so doing, he surpassed the 499 scored by Hanif Mohammad for Karachi against Bahawalpur in 1959. Quite the achievement. Now I’m off to best online casinos nz to see if I can break a record of my own!