Brian Charles Lara : End of an Era

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 20 (UNI) Four days after the World Cup final, Brian Charles Lara will be 38 years old and his last international match will be his 299th ODI.

He had hoped to walk into the sunset of a glittering career with the coveted Cup in his hand or at least would have loved his 300th match to be the semifinal, but for this extraordinary batsmen who held the world captive for almost 17 years with his batting artistry, Lara will depart a dejected man.

As the world mourns the loss of the best batsman of this generation, West Indies looks to the future, trying to rebuild a fading team, for which Lara has always been a misfit.

No batsmen except perhaps Sachin Tendulkar dominated bowlers in the modern cricket for so long and so ruthlessly. If Sachin is a pale shadow of himself, Brian Lara was still going strong even though he is five years senior.

He was unquestionably the best batsmen of the last two decade and only Sir Don Bradman was more prolific in hitting real big scores.

But Lara did what the 'Don' failed to do. In 1994 he broke Sir Garfield Sobers' 36-year-old world test record of 365, scoring 375 against England in Antigua. After losing his world test record to Australia's Matthew Hayden in 2003, Lara replied six months later by reclaiming the record with 400. Again the venue was Antigua, again the victims were England.

One of 11 children, Lara made his test debut in 1990, scoring his first century against Australia in 1993, when he scored an impressive 277.

Seven weeks later he followed that with an astonishing innings of 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in English county cricket, the highest first class score.

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