Time to Commemorate the Greatest Inning by the Caribbean Maestro Brian Lara - 501 Not Out

Time to Commemorate the Greatest Inning by the Caribbean Maestro Brian Lara – 501 Not Out: Most people, even ardent cricket fans think that 400* is the highest individual score in days cricket. But only a handful of cricket followers know the fact that the same man who scored 400 in an international game also scored the unthinkable 500 in a First Class game for Warwickshire. Yes you guessed it right. We are referring to one of the greatest ever to wield a cricket bat in hand, Brian Charles Lara. On this day in 1994, Brian Lara created history by scoring a 501 not out against Durham a record that still stands untouched after more than two decades.

And with that, Brian Lara now holds the rare record for being the only batsman ever in world cricket to register scores of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 respectively. That really is one hell of a record! What is more laudable about his innings of 500 at Birmingham is that he scored the runs at a quicker pace with a strike rate of 117, a scoring rate which is rather unusual in a 5-day game. He struck 62 fours and 10 sixes in what was a wonderful exhibition of class and stroke play.

Brian Lara’s ruthless 500 propelled Warwickshire to a humongous score of 810. He was bowled off a no-ball when on 12 and was dropped while he was batting on 18. Had those chances been taken, then cricket might have well not seen a batsman score 500. But when you are batting a long innings facing over 400 balls these things are bound to happen and fortune always favors the brave. While many teams are struggling to put up a combined team score of 500 these days it really is jaw dropping stuff from the Caribbean genius to have achieved what he has. Though Lara has retired now, his fabulous knocks like these tell us the story of his cricket and are framework for the current generation to learn the art of sustaining through tons of balls and to play those big, marathon knocks that there was a trademark of Brian Charles Lara’s career; there was never a player like him and there never will be.