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World record 400* for Lara

Tuesday, April 13 2004

Gareth Batty opened the bowling to Ridley Jacobs at the start of day 3, but a single off the first ball brought the main event into view. Brian Charles Lara helped himself to a single off the last ball of Batty’s over to progress beyond his overnight 313*. Marcus Trescothick shared the early morning bowling duties with Batty, and from his first ball, Lara added another single to his already burgeoning total.

Lara’s first boundary of the day , a nudge down the leg-side off the innocuous Trescothick, took the West Indies past 600, and from the first ball of the following over, Jacobs took a single to go past 50. Batty, too short, watched on as a scintillating drive by Lara crashed into the fence at extra cover as the runs continued to mount.

A short-arm jab from Jacobs was sufficient to larrup a half-volley from Trescothick over the grandstand, then a single off the final ball of the over took the partnership to 150. Four overs into the day’s play, Steve Harmison was introduced into the attack as soon as the new ball became available. It was to be the first significant moment of the day. A single by Jacobs brought Lara on strike – and two balls later, the big Durham paceman found the outside edge of Lara’s bat.

On another day, in another venue, it would have gone to hand. Today, it raced like a rocket to the third man boundary as Lara played the delivery with soft hands and kept the ball down. Andrew Flintoff shared the new ball with Harmison, but despite his best efforts he could extract little out of a pitch which seemed to be maturing with age.

As if bowling to Lara wasn’t difficult enough, umpire Aleem Dar added to Harmison’s woes by warning him a second time for encroachment into the ‘no-go’ area in his follow-through, but frankly it would have taken more than a little roughing-up to do significant damage to this wicket. It was enough, however, to prompt a round-the-wicket approach by Harmison, who nevertheless continued to impress.

When the total reached 630, it became the highest score ever achieved in a test match at St John’s. Prophetically, the previous six highest totals at the ground were all in drawn games, which does not augur well for the prospects of the West Indian bowlers either. Ridley Jacobs made sure that he wasn’t unnoticed, crashing Simon Jones for two cleanly clubbed boundaries, then when Flintoff replaced Harmison, he too came in for the Jacobs long-handle treatment, courtesy of a massive six over long leg.

Lara, meanwhile, continued to acquire runs with little fuss, although one pull off Jones was bristling with power and aggression. Another four by Jacobs took the West Indian score beyond 650, then the introduction of Batty signalled the end of the new ball assault. England, metaphorically, had shot their bolt. So it was that Lara cruised to 350, nudging the off-spinner to fine leg with the minimum of effort.

With England still a bowler short with the continued incapacity of Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison was flung back into the battle but Jacobs had seemingly all the time in the world with a lovely straight drive. It was the bowler’s last active participation in the innings, though, as he ploughed straight down the middle of the wicket and promptly received his third warning for trespass. Never had a paceman looked so pleased to have fallen foul of the law.

Lara continued to play the numbers game when he took a quiet single of Michael Vaughan, moving on to 365* to equal Sobers’ mammoth total once again, but whereas the ground was a tumult ten years ago, this time there was scarcely a murmur.. Another single and he held two of the top three scores in test match history.

As if to add to the drama and tension of the occasion, Ridley Jacobs on 87 charged down the wicket to Michael Vaughan, missed the ball by a military mile and was bowled. Jacobs started to walk off, forlorn, until the outstretched arm of Darrell Hair was noticed – no ball! England’s tactics at this stage to Brian Lara appeared to be nothing more than delaying the inevitable, although in fairness there seemed to be precious little else in Vaughan’s armoury. Proactive captaincy came to the fore as Vaughan brought his mid-on up to save a single. Lara needed no further invitation to club the ball over the top to take the total past 700 and himself to 372*.

A loud appeal for caught behind extracted little response other than a huge grin on the face of Lara on 373, then a missed sweep gave a lie to the smile. Lara was a tense as every man jack in the ground, as well as the millions watching around the world.

From 374 to 380 took Lara just one Gareth Batty delivery, then a sweep for four took him to 384. Play came to a halt as the Jamaican Prime Minister came on to the ground to personally congratulate the man who had single-handedly brought pride back to West Indian cricket. Unlike 10 years ago, there was no massive invasion of the ground. As far as the locals are concerned, once you have seen one Lara world record, you are no longer surprised. For Lara, an unprecedented quadruple test century beckoned.

Amidst all the excitement, Ridley Jacobs continued on his own merry way to 99, then a neat turn past square leg took his own tally to 100 for the third time in his career. England had also been on the receiving end of the small matter of 730 runs – the most they had ever conceded.in test cricket history. From the very last ball before lunch, a truly dreadful Trescothick delivery, wide down the leg side, brought the first blot against the name of Geraint Jones as four byes went into the scorebook.

The West Indies started again after lunch on 734-5 with Brian Lara just 10 short of 400. England must have been praying that was the only target he had in mind. The way Jacobs and Lara started the afternoon session, though, could only have made the England bowlers’ hearts sink – there did not appear to be much urgency about the proceedings. A crashing Lara drive, though, off the bowling of Batty took him to within just four of 400. A single off the last ball of the 200th over and the target was down to 3.

An over later and the target was just one, with Gareth Batty once more in the firing-line. A ball outside leg, a sweep to fine leg and the most significant milestone in the history of test match cricket history had been achieved. To the relief of all and sundry, the declaration came at the end of the over with the West Indies on 751-5, but with their captain not out on 400. There would be no whitewash this year.

West Indies 751-5 dcl (Lara 400*, Jacobs 107*)

Posted by Eddie