Placing it ahead of the 277 at the Sydney Cricket Ground and even the monumental 375 and 400* against England, West Indies great Brian Lara acknowledged his 213 in Jamaica Test win over Australia in 1999 as the best innings he played at the highest level.
The Prince of Trinidad, who is doing media work during the ongoing World Cup in England and Wales, deemed that knock even better than the legendary 153* he struck in the third Test of that series at Barbados. Both came in winning causes for the West Indies.
"Okay you keep the net and I went side on the grass and knocked off (a few shots)... we were 36/4 (34/4) and (later) were 375/4... that innings of 211 (213) in the face of being sacked, I can see in the media, board members, they were so happy that Brian is coming to the end and we can get rid of him," Lara was quoted as saying by PTI.
"Obviously pulling that innings out in face of adversity, it showed me what I was capable of. It might not have been the prettiest, but it definitely the best I have ever batted in my entire life... a week later they named me captain for rest of the year... 153 (in Barbados) was good but a week earlier the 213 was maybe my best-ever."
Lara said the double ton in the second Test gave him the confidence of delivering another top innings in the third. "Give me two or three minutes to explain why I picked this innings as pretty much my best innings and it has nothing to do with quality of the innings, say for instance 277 (or) scoring 400 (against England) or the 153 in Barbados (against Australia)."
"In late 1998, we had little bit of salary problem with the West Indies cricket board and we were stuck in a hotel in London and we were there for three-four days and the English press had taken us to pieces."
"And as captain, I got letter under my door from late Nelson Mandela and it said all of South Africa wants to see the West Indies. We left for South Africa and by the end of that tour we lost all the Test matches (5-0), we lost ODI series 6-1, it was a bad tour for us. I really did not expect to be the captain," he added.
Despite a disastrous tour of South Africa, selectors named Lara skipper for the first two Tests against Australia. "But guess why the first Test match was in Trinidad and they were little bit scared of a boycott, so the political thing was to put it for two Test matches, you are playing against Australia, and they are not going to win, given a very poor team as well and the fourth innings of the first Test match we made 51 in Trinidad (at Port of Spain)."
Australia hammered West Indies by 312 runs in the first Test at Port of Spain. And, the second one at Kingston then became a must-win encounter for the home team in a free fall.
"And we arrived in Jamaica, which was my last Test as a captain because we were playing against best team in the world and I was booed at the airport by Jamacians, at the cricket ground, it was very bad," Lara said.
"On the first day of Test, Australia scored 259 (256) and at the end of that day West Indies were 36/4 (34/4). I was sitting in room, one of my Jamaican friends came in and said you guys are going to win this Test. Jamaica is famous for little bit of marijuana and I wanted to know which marijuana he picked, no way we were going to win that Test match," he concluded.
West Indies bounced back to make it 2-1. However, Australia dominated the proceedings in Antigua and won the game by 176 runs to level the series 2-2. It was a great Test series.
