****Official Brian Lara Tribute Thread****

[honestbharani]

Thanks, Kazo and Matt. I did a tribute for Warney and I thought I should do one for BCL as well. And hopefully for McGrath once the WC is over, I guess.


BTW, Richard, I am gonna be changing my avatar now. It will be BCL for a coupl of weeks and then I will get them back to my losing avatar challenges.

 

[Francis]

A man with a not so good looking ODI record, relatively speaking, and still a man who almost every expert commentator would have down in his team sheet when selecting an all time ODI XI (check out Cricinfo Maganzine's piece on this)...

Lara was no ODI slouch either. While he wouldn't crack my top 10 best ODI players ever, he's certainly close. Surely anybody who averages over 40 and has played 299 games is an ODI great.

Anyway I said it in the other Brian Lara thread, his two best series (1999 vs. Australia, 2001 vs. Sri Lanka) may have displayed the greatest batting ever seen, and that includes Bradman. Lara looked unstoppable there. I'd give the nod to the Aussie series as his best because he did the impossible in that series in that game where he gave Walsh the strike with four runs needed or so...

 

[simmy]

Thanks, Kazo and Matt. I did a tribute for Warney and I thought I should do one for BCL as well. And hopefully for McGrath once the WC is over, I guess.


BTW, Richard, I am gonna be changing my avatar now. It will be BCL for a coupl of weeks and then I will get them back to my losing avatar challenges.

Mine is too influential to change.

 

[Richard]

BTW, Richard, I am gonna be changing my avatar now. It will be BCL for a coupl of weeks and then I will get them back to my losing avatar challenges.

Aha... all is explained.

Hope you read this post before my one in the Peter Moores thread.

 

[Richard]

Mine is too influential to change.

Hah, I shall B*Witched you some day, I feel sure...

 

[Richard]

Anyway I said it in the other Brian Lara thread, his two best series (1999 vs. Australia, 2001 vs. Sri Lanka) may have displayed the greatest batting ever seen, and that includes Bradman. Lara looked unstoppable there. I'd give the nod to the Aussie series as his best because he did the impossible in that series in that game where he gave Walsh the strike with four runs needed or so...

But the thing is, he was stoppable - all it would have taken was a catch from Mark Waugh (that's Mark Waugh, probably the best slipper of the modern era) and he'd have made just 44 of that 213, and if Healy had taken that chance on 146 in the 153* it'd have been remembered as The Greatest Choke Of All Time.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

his two best series (1999 vs. Australia, 2001 vs. Sri Lanka) may have displayed the greatest batting ever seen

His series against South Africa in 2005 was not too shabby either. Though he didn't play the whole series. He played two of the finest innings of his career in that series.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

But the thing is, he was stoppable - all it would have taken was a catch from Mark Waugh (that's Mark Waugh, probably the best slipper of the modern era) and he'd have made just 44 of that 213, and if Healy had taken that chance on 146 in the 153* it'd have been remembered as The Greatest Choke Of All Time.

I don't remember the Healy chance as being easy at all though. And in what way can it be considered a choke when one man takes a team so close to victory against the best team in the world?! That's not choking. Choking is failure under pressure. Lara took the West Indies from the utterly impossible (under pressure) to the possible.

Brian Lara was under pressure for his entire innings (or the entire series, in fact) and he was sublime.

 

[chaminda_00]

Considering the first game of cricket i watched was the SCG test in 92/93. Im going to change my avatar to him celebrating that 200. I wish he went out in a Test Match, doesn't feel right TBH.

 

[Richard]

I don't remember the Healy chance as being easy at all though. And in what way can it be considered a choke when one man takes a team so close to victory against the best team in the world?! That's not choking. Choking is failure under pressure. Lara took the West Indies from the utterly impossible (under pressure) to the possible.

Brian Lara was under pressure for his entire innings (or the entire series, in fact) and he was sublime.

Personally I wouldn't rate it a choke at all, I'd rate it a magnificent effort to get so close. But undoubtedly some others would, given that Tendulkar is repeatedly bashed for this innings. Me, I still rate that a quite magnificent innings, even though he didn't quite get his side over the line. Many people say he "choked" because he didn't get over the line, which would have been exactly the same as with Lara at Bridgetown but for the let-off.

It's a simple fact of life that had Healy taken that chance - easy or not, no-one disputes it was catchable - that innings wouldn't be rated as highly as it is by most people. I'd be amazed if you would dispute that.

 

[Salamuddin]

Lara - Best batsman that I've ever seen - Tendulkar and Ponting don't even come close :-)

 

[silentstriker]

Thanks, Kazo and Matt. I did a tribute for Warney and I thought I should do one for BCL as well. And hopefully for McGrath once the WC is over, I guess.


BTW, Richard, I am gonna be changing my avatar now. It will be BCL for a coupl of weeks and then I will get them back to my losing avatar challenges.

The McGrath one should really fall to me, but I am not sure if I would be able to stop crying long enough to think about it.

 

[Perm]

Sad way to see him go in his final outing for the West Indies. He dropped a hint pre-game that he may end up going to England with the team, but not as a player. Be interesting to see if he takes some sort of role up straight away.

 

[simmy]

I am never going to see Brian Lara bat again. I still haven't quite come to terms with this.

What a player. What a man.

 

[Perm]

I am never going to see Brian Lara bat again. I still haven't quite come to terms with this.

What a player. What a man.

Disappointed you missed the game simmy, very disappointed indeed.

 

[LA ICE-E]

it's sad that he was honored by everyone but most of his teammates...england gave his a guard of honor but his teammates didn't when he walked back or at least they could have been behind him when he did the lap around the park let alone parade on the shoulders like warne got...his teammates bar a few let him down today...but i hope he stays associated with windies cricket and be part of the admins or something...

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

**** it's just hitting me that I'll never watch him bat again. I literally teared up when England gave him the guard of honour and basically cried when he said goodbye.

The greatest batsman I've ever seen, and probably ever will. If anybody needs me I'll be watching him on youtube for the next 6-8 hours.

Thankyou, Brian.

 

[aussie]

Damn if i knew he would have retired in that last super-eight clash i would have bought a ticket for that game but i came too late. Got to see the great man live on 4 occassion 99 WC group clash vs Oz, test matches vs ENG in 2000, 2004 (@ OT & Sabina Park). Just the one big score in 2000 but i got to see the man in action.

Great career, best player of spin without a doubt that i've seen & pretty solid againts the quicks as well. With his ability to score such mammoth scores IMO he must go down as one of the top 5 batsmen of all time.

 

[Richard]

I was hoping Smith and Colin were going to post consecutively sometime during the period...

 

[simmy]

Disappointed you missed the game simmy, very disappointed indeed.

Lol. I was actually playing cricket myself! I ran myself out on 95... in true Lara style!

PS. I am aching so much today though.