Brian Lara celebrating the milestone (File Photo)
On April 12, 2004, Brian Charles Lara became the first batsman in the history of Test cricket to score a quadruple century at St. John cricket ground in Antigua against Michael Vaughan’s England. Lara achieved the milestone on Day 3 of the Test in the first session with a single towards fine leg, reaching the milestone from 582 deliveries. His innings was studded with 43 fours and four sixes. There were glorious cover drives, big shots dancing down the wicket and elegant leg glances in the record-breaking innings.
This was the second time Lara had broken the record of the highest individual score in the longest format of cricket. 10 years earlier (April 16, 1994), the West Indies legend scored 375 against the English side at the same venue. This time around he broke Australian opener Matthew Hayden’s record who scored 380 against Zimbabwe on October 9, 2003.
Lara also holds the record of the highest first-class score. He scored an unbeaten 501 for English county cricket team Warwickshire against Durham in 1994.
The Trinidad-born batsman took his team’s score to 751/5 before declaring on a batting paradise. In reply, England could manage to score only 285 in the first innings with a solitary century by all-rounder Andrew Flintoff. However, the English batsmen showed grit in the second innings as their skipper Vaughan led from the front and scored a match-saving 140. The Test resulted in a draw as England scored 422/5 at the end of Day 5’s play.
Since then, Sri Lankan batting legend Mahela Jayawardene came closest to breaking Lara’s record. Jayawardene scored 374 against South Africa two years later. Australian opener David Warner, the latest entrant in the triple-century club, was backed by Lara to break the record against Pakistan in November 2019 but Tim Paine declared the innings at Adelaide Cricket Ground.
However, the former Caribbean batsman believes that his record will be broken someday. He had predicted it when Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman to score a double century in ODI cricket in 2010.