What's new

On This Day - April 12, 2004: Brian Lara hits 400* against England

His 501 record still stands too.

If someone breaks these records he will probably come out of retirement.
 
There have been plenty of bats that could've gone for it but chose not to. Lara's 400 is over-rated. His 150 vs Aussies is probably his best ton ever.

I have extremely high regards for Lara, he's one of my favorite batsman ever. But just like you said, I consider his 153* against the Aussies his best ever innings. He's a genius.
 
I remember watching that innings live. It is one of my favourite innings. Ah, the good old days. I miss Lara.
 
I have extremely high regards for Lara, he's one of my favorite batsman ever. But just like you said, I consider his 153* against the Aussies his best ever innings. He's a genius.

Absolutely.

I don't hold anything against him for playing that knock tbh. Even if he'd have declared earlier WI would have found a way to lose the game.

Though this record doesn't really carry much significance. Just like Rohit's 260 in ODI's isn't really rated highly.
 
The most marvelous thing about that record is that, Lare broke his old record, he even has a 500 in first class, just shows that it was no fluke
 
Probably the most useless high profile record in world cricket.
 
The most marvelous thing about that record is that, Lare broke his old record, he even has a 500 in first class, just shows that it was no fluke
Lara Broke Hayden's record. Hayden had already broke Lara's record before that innings.

He is no Bubka.
 
It took Lara a long time to break his 375 record and score 400. this won't be going away anytime soon IMO
 
I think throughout his career, Lara's held all the major Test records; the 501 record, the 375 record, the 400 record, the most runs in a test over record (done twice), the fastest to 10,000 runs record (which he still holds, without the benefit of minnow bashing), the most 100s in a first class season record (five of which were in a row, narrowly missing the six centuries in a row record - he hit a sixth century in the next game). He's also held the "highest number of test runs in world history" record, when he surpassed Border. He's also only recently lost the "fastest to 11000 Career Runs" record to Sangakkara.

For a period in the mid 90s, he also several times looked like he would hit 200 in ODIs.

Other players may get one or two of these records, but nobody thus far has been able to say they've held all of them.
 
We will see a triple hundred in ODI well before this record is broken again.
 
It was a waste. He could have declared on 250* and given WI a chance for an encouraging win after going 0-3 down in the series.
 
One of the most selfish innings of all Times. The only reason this record is still intact is because now a days Captains/Management dont allow their batsmen to create records at expense of teams victory. Most Captains declare when the batsman has crossed 300* and dont allow the innings to continue for the batsman to chase 400.
 
It was a waste. He could have declared on 250* and given WI a chance for an encouraging win after going 0-3 down in the series.

I dont think its a waste. Sports is all about emotion and memories. Lara's 400 was an epic knock, a herculean effort that will forever be remembered in the history book. Had he declared on 250 and WI won that test match, it would have been just remained just another win in record books.

Though I agree we should only play to win but sometimes individual achievements are so big that situation demands to be selfish.
 
This innings did more harm than good for his reputation. So much that his own team mate Ridley Jacobs openly slammed him to be a selfish player in 2005 or 2006.
 
This was a really selfish innings. He got his 400 at the expense of his team.

Many players can score 400+ but teams generally declare before that.
 
I dont think its a waste. Sports is all about emotion and memories. Lara's 400 was an epic knock, a herculean effort that will forever be remembered in the history book. Had he declared on 250 and WI won that test match, it would have been just remained just another win in record books.

Though I agree we should only play to win but sometimes individual achievements are so big that situation demands to be selfish.

There have to be limits. If Lara had not been skipper, he would have been called in when he passed 300. All he wanted to do was get the record back - but Hayden's innings meant something as Australia won that match.
 
A singular effort by a man who had been so great for Windies in the 90s and crucial to them to retain a certain level of greatness....sadly, in a series when they needed a win, Lara settled for a person score. I think it is a great effort but not a great innings by any stretch.
 
Tbf, i dont know why people hail such innings.
There were atleast 10 incidents where this record could have been easily broken but the batsman decided to declare or hit out.
Virat kohli recently declared while he was playing on 256 even though india had all the time in the world to bowl out south africa. Thats what makes a player unique not this senseless bashing.
According to me in the long run this record can only be broken by the second coming of a player like sehwag who can make 400 in 450 balls otherwise most teams will declare once the batsman reaches 330.
 
This is the knock which demoted Brian Lara in the list of great batsmen ever to play the game and irrversibly ruled him out of being considered the greatest ever West Indian batsman ahead of Richards and Sobers.

One of the most selfish test knocks ever played.

10 or more players have had genuine shot at this record but they never bothered because of the ridiculous amount of time it would take them to reach there.

Unless it is a Sehwag who could bludgeon it in 4 sessions, this is a record no batsman should aspire to play.
 
Lara was a speical player. His ability to go big was unreal. It's a shame his selfishness and poor attitude are remembered just as much as his batting ability.
 
Back
Top