Ten years ago at the Antigua Recreation Ground, West Indiescaptain Brian Lara reclaimed the record for Test crickets highestscore when he made 400* out of a mammoth 751/5 declared against England. Ten yearsearlier, at the same venue and against the same opposition, he brokethe record set in 1958 by the man widely regarded as the greatestcricketer to ever walk the earth, Sir Garfield Sobers.
This was an ambition he harboured from his youth; one that earnedhim a rebuke, when he had the temerity to mention it, from hismanager on the 1991 tour to England, Lance Gibbs. The outstandingoff-spinner, being a long-time teammate and admirer of the great man,apparently thought the gifted but irreverent upstart, who wasnteven selected for a Test that summer, was committing some kind ofblasphemy by hankering after Sobers record.
Lara had the highest respect for Sir Garfield, of course; Sobershad taken great interest in his progress and was a mentor to theTrinidadian. But Lara also had confidence in his own abilities, andconsidered it no slight to Sobers to go after his record. It was onhis mind during his exquisite 277 in Sydney. A few months later inAntigua, he made no mistake.
In October 2003, Australias Matthew Hayden smashed a weakZimbabwe bowling attack to all parts of the Western Australia CricketAssociation ground in Perth for 380 runs, thereby erasing Larasname from the record books and writing his own. By then, theTrinidadian was in his mid-thirties and not many would have thoughthim still capable of summoning the stamina for the marathon it wouldrequire to go past Haydens score. If the opportunity presenteditself, however, you could be sure that the ravenous run-gathererwould take full advantage.
The opportunity came when the 2004 England tour reached Antigua,Laras happy hunting ground. He walked to the middle early enoughon a first day shortened to only 52 overs to be 86* by stumps, andwas in occupation until well into the second session of the thirdday.
The left-handed batting genius had done it again. Many creditedLaras monumental achievement with restoring their flounderingfaith in West Indies cricket, and just as he did ten years earlier,Lara earned plaudits aplenty.
But a few questions had to be asked. Did the West Indies captainsacrifice a possible victory to chase after the record? Wouldntthe hosts have had a better chance of winning the game if they hadgiven themselves more time to dismiss the visitors twice? Did Larareally expect that the West Indies would have been able to runthrough the Englishmen twice on a very placid surface in justtwo-and-a-half days?
The match ended with England 422/5 in their second innings afterbeing dismissed for 285 in their first, still 44 runs adrift. TheWest Indies ran out of time a commodity they would have had moreof had they managed their declaration better.
On the third morning, the West Indies resumed on 595/5, Lara 313*.The 87 runs that took him to his milestone ate up a further 156deliveries, a reasonable rate of scoring under normal circumstances,but inadequate when racing against time to set a big total on a flatpitch. Laras scoring rate appears to indicate that his prioritywas regaining the record rather than giving his side the best chanceof winning the Test.
Now, there are some who argue that the record was more importantand likely more enduring than a Test win. There may be some merit tothat view, but a captains duty has to be to seek after the bestinterest of his team; self-indulgence should normally have no part inthe team ethos, particularly if it comes from the captain. OvercomingEngland should have been Laras first consideration, especiallysince England had won the first three games of the four-Test series.
Another view expressed at the time was that a whitewash should beavoided at all costs, and batting England completely out of the gamewas one sure way of doing that. It was. That point of view, however,seemed more a search for justification of the captains actionrather than a genuine team strategy. Furthermore, batting first andscoring 600 is almost-always a guarantee against defeat.
In January 2012 in Sydney, captain Michael Clarke stoppedAustralias first innings at 659/4 on the third day, havingdismissed India for 191 on the first. Clarke declared with 329 to hisname, giving Australia over two days to take 10 wickets and win thegame. Had he chosen to, Clarke could well have sought after Larasrecord without seriously jeopardizing Australias chances ofvictory. He certainly had enough time; stumps was more than 40 oversaway and that would have allowed them two full days to bowl outIndia.
Laras calculations were much tighter than Clarkes, yet hestill chose to go after the glory of a personal accomplishment.Whereas Clarke placed the interest of his team ahead of his own, Lara elected to elevate his interest over that of his team.
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