On the cricket field, rarely has a batter exuded so much elegance as Brian Lara. The West Indies great stood tall among his contemporaries with his stylish batting, which often looked effortless. With a huge back-lift, Lara's grace had the world in awe. He is the holder of the highest individual Test score of 400*, which he scored in 2004. But 10 years before that, on June 6, 1994, Lara stayed unbeaten on 501 for Warwickshire against Durham in a County Championship match. It stays the highest individual score in a First-Class match and today is the 28th anniversary of the special feat.
Warwickshire remembered the feat with a special tweet saying: "One of the greatest innings. Can't believe it was 28 years ago today!"
Lara's innings was studded with 62 fours and 10 sixes. To make things more interesting, Lara reached the historic 501* mark off just 427 balls.
Batting first, after Durham declared the first innings on 556/8, Lara took charge. Coming to bat at No. 3, with the scoreboard reading 8/1, the batting great played with perfection. Courtesy that knock, Warwickshire scored a massive total of 810/4 and the match ended in a draw.
The Trinidad-born legend is currently the batting coach of Indian Premier League side SunRisers Hyderabad, where he oversaw the rise of pacer Umran Malik. The 22-year-old pace sensation took 22 wickets in 14 matches in the IPL 2022. Lara said that the Indian reminds him a lot of West Indies pacer Fidel Edwards.
"Umran Malik reminds me a lot about Fidel Edwards when he first started, a lot of pace and I hope that he understands it as he goes into international cricket, which I think he'll eventually play," Lara said on 'Cricket Live' on Star Sports.