On This Day: WATCH- Brian Lara becomes the first batsman to score 400 in a Test innings

Brian Lara's world record of 375 was broken by Matthew Hayden's 380* a few months earlier.

By Jatin Sharma - 12 Apr, 2020

Brian Lara had held the record for the highest individual score by a batsman in one Test innings, which was 375, coming against England in 1994 in Antigua. He held the record for 9 years before Matthew Hayden slammed 380 against Zimbabwe and all eyes were on the Prince of Trinidad if he can reclaim his throne.

And he went onto reclaim his throne mere months after Hayden became the record holder. The venue was the same, Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's, Antigua and even the opposition was the same, England, all a decade apart.

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Skipper Brian Lara won the toss and chose to bat first and when he came out to bat at no.3 at the fall of Darren Ganga’s wicket, it seemed he was determined to go past Hayden’s record and what followed was England grounded into submission by one man alone. Chris Gayle made 69, Ramnaresh Sarwan made 90 and Ridley Jacobs made 107*, but it was all about Lara.

He ended day one on 86 and day two on 313, becoming only the second batsman after Sir Don Bradman to make two scores of over 300 in Test cricket. He survived an early appeal by Steve Harmison for caught behind, a runout call when he was on 127 and another caught behind off Gareth Batty when he was on 373.   

On day 3 after lunch, Lara swept a ball to become the first batsman to make 400 in Test cricket. He had faced 582 deliveries, hit 43 fours and four sixes and batted for just under 13 hours. With this record score, Lara became the first batsman in cricket history to make scores in multiples of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 in First-Class cricket. He had scored 501* for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994, which remains the highest FC score ever.

With this amazing knock of 400*, Lara regained his throne and only Mahela Jayawardene, with his 374 against South Africa in 2006 came anywhere close to his record.

Watch Lara’s amazing knock here:

By Jatin Sharma - 12 Apr, 2020

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