An incredible feat, but at what cost? The other side of Brian Lara's historic 400*
Minutes before lunch, Lara equalled Hayden's record of 380, one the Aussie had carved just six months back. And a few balls later the record was his. He soaked in the appreciation from the overwhelmed Antigua crowd and then kneeled down to kiss the pitch.
A quadruple-century in Test cricket. Even 16 years since Brian Lara's historic knock, the mere thought of another 400 in the format seems absolutely unimaginable, especially amid the concept of World Test Championship. But Lara was always destined to achieve that feat. Ten years before his quadruple-century, Lara had pulled England's Chris Lewis through mid-wicket at the Recreation Ground in Antigua to break Gary Sobers' record of 375, one he had held for 36 long years. In 2004, in the same week, the two teams were up against each other at the same venue, but with a whole different story.
In 1994, England had arrived in Antigua for the fifth Test of the series having survived a whitewash with a win in Barbados riding on Alec Stewart's consecutive ton. Ten years later, West Indies hosted England at the same venue, hoping to avoid a whitewash. Moreover, Windies under Lara, despite his sheer brilliance with the bat and having on many occasions single-handedly denied the opposition a victory, were losing their old charm. Since the turn of the century, and heading into the match, the team had won just one series at home.
Lara, too, failed to live up to the expectations in the series amid pressure on his captaincy. He managed only 100 runs in three Tests, his confidence was shattered and he had even dropped himself down the order.
Lara and West Indies now wanted to make the most of Antigua conditions after England breached their fortress in Barbados. They had denied themselves a whitewash against Australia in 2003 series at this very venue and hence were looking to draw inspiration from the same.
Eventually, the coin was tossed, Lara opted to bat and Windies began on a promising note. Chris Gayle departed at the stroke of lunch following a brisk start. Lara was walked in shortly after, following a rain delay. After having survived a caught-behind scare in the very fourth ball he encountered, Lara looked as sublime as he was ten years back en route to his 375. And with the pitch offering nothing to the bowlers, Lara marshaled along. He ended day one on 86, day two on 313. On the third morning, Lara was accompanied by a 37-year-old Ridley Jacobs, who as well scored his century. Windies were further assisted by the fact that Mathew Hoggard was down with stomach bug and Steve Harmison was barred from bowling after running into the pitch a few times.
Minutes before lunch, Lara equalled Mathew Hayden's record of 380, one the Aussie had carved just six months back. And a few balls later the record was his. He soaked in the appreciation from the overwhelmed Antigua crowd and then kneeled down to kiss the pitch. West Indies declared after lunch with a score of 751 for seven.
England were folded for 285 despite a century from Andrew Flintoff, but the hosts failed to emulate the feat again as England finished with 422 for five after having asked them to follow-on. Windies did avoid another whitewash in Antigua with their captain scripting a sensational record, but England managed to draw the game.
Lara's inhumane efforts were praised for a week or two, but many were openly critical of his "selfish" knock.
"It's generally not the way we play our cricket," Ricky Ponting, Australia's then captain, had said. "Their whole first innings might have been geared around one individual performance and they could have let a Test match slip because of it. They ran out of time in the game - that's not the way the Australian team plays."
Ponting then explained that Hayden was not given any special privilege when he was on 380 in Perth six months back. "It was a very rare thing, for Matty to be able to bat for as long as he did and go on and make that big score," said Ponting. "He was given the opportunity to go on and break Brian's record and he did that. He was going to be given another half an hour, or 20 minutes, to try to get to 400 but unfortunately, he got out."
Tony Greig, a former England cricketer, echoed the words of Ponting saying, "I'm certainly not raving about the innings. I have to praise it for the sheer fact that he stayed in for so long but it wasn't an innings that you could be in awe of. It was clear he had the record in mind and was just going to keep on grinding it out until he got there. As far as I'm concerned that is not a good way to play the game, especially when you're the captain. It shows that Brian Lara is not a very good captain."
But would Lara ever get to that historic feat had the match been part of World Test Championship? Aussie cricketer David Warner, who had scored 335 in November 2019 against Pakistan in Adelaide, had revealed that captain Tim Paine had given him only three minutes extra to break the record of 334 runs jointly held by Donald Bradman and Mark Taylor as Australia's second-highest Test score. The agreed time for Australia to declare was 5:40 pm Adelaide time, when Warner was on 334. Paine had sent out a message to the batsman that he has been allowed three minutes more to break the record. Following the single from Warner, Paine had declared the innings, at about 5:43 pm.
When he was asked about challenging Brian Lara's world record 400* against England, or Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe, Warner explained, "I don't think so at all. We really looked at the weather that's around tomorrow, we wanted to give ourselves a lot of time. If we could have the number of overs we got tonight and try to get a couple of wickets, we've managed to get six wickets down, if there is a bit of rain about tomorrow, the bowlers get a good rest, only have to come out and try to get 14 wickets in the last two days, so it wasn't a thing in our mind to go out there and try to get that record or anything."
For the series, it was England's to win, undoubtedly. The Windies suffered two dismal collapses and barring that 400 from Lara, it wasn't any other batting highlight. The England bowlers were impressive as well, barring their show in Antigua. And for Lara, his heroics saved his captaincy. However, Windies won just one more Test under Lara following the England series, against Bangladesh at home, before his final captaincy in November 2006 in Pakistan.
Overall, Lara guided his nation to only 10 Test victories out of 47 matches, the third-worst among Windies skippers who have led the country in more than 20 Tests. Also, the team's batting average of 29.63 under Lara was only better than the team under Jason Holder (26.16), among Windies skippers who have led the country in more than 20 Tests. The bowling average of 37.87 too suffered a similar fate.