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| Saturday, 17 April 2004 |
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Records do matter From the Press box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq West Indies captain Brian Lara's extra-ordinary innings of 400 not out against England in the fourth and final Test at St. John's, Antigua proves that records do matter at times. Records not only raise the stature of the side but also now and then keep a country's name in the international sphere. Sri Lanka is constantly in the news today because its off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is closing upon West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh's world Test record of 519 wickets. From the other side of the coin Muralitharan is also in the news for the legality of his new delivery, the 'doosra' which is currently under scrutiny by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Lara's astonishing innings is a classic example for our cricketers to follow especially our batsmen whose poor performances have been the cause of recent defeats in Tests and One-day Internationals. It is not that players of the calibre of Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tilan Samaraweera are incapable of scaling Himalayan heights like Lara. They have the talent and ability to do it. Jayasuriya already has a triple hundred in his career; Atapattu has five double hundreds while Jayawardene and Sangakkara have each scored a double hundred. So it is not beyond their capabilities to go and get big scores. The problem as one can see it is they are under performing due to the lack of concentration. What these players should be doing is to strive hard to individually achieve a goal so that collectively it enhances the team's performance. Newly elected Test captain Marvan Atapattu has emphasized on his batsmen including himself to take a leaf out of Lara's book and produce big innings. It need not be as big as the monumental 400, but big enough to bring Sri Lanka victory. Atapattu who became the country's ninth Test captain in its 22-year-old Test history for the tour to Zimbabwe, said that 'there was a lack of professionalism and application' in the batting and called upon his batsmen to take on a more responsible role. Jayasuriya has twice missed out on world records that could easily have been his for the taking. In 1997-98 he came within 36 runs of beating Lara's (then) world record of 375 when he was dismissed for 340 against India at the R. Premadasa Stadium. Then in 2000-01 he was six runs shy of breaking Pakistani Saeed Anwar's one-day score of 194 when he was out for 189, also made against India at Sharjah. Despite those near misses Sri Lanka in fact have quite a few world records under their belts at the moment. World records like the highest team totals in both Tests (952-6 v India) and One-day Internationals (398-5 v Kenya), best bowling in one-day internationals (8/19 by Chaminda Vaas), most one-day matches as captain (193 by Arjuna Ranatunga), highest partnership for any wicket in Tests (576 for 2nd wkt by Jayasuriya and Mahanama), and most catches in a Test (7 by Hashan Tillakaratne). Not so long ago India were in a similar stage with Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman all failing to produce the big scores which they are capable of. India today is a totally different side. They have grown up in stature and are a force to be reckoned with possessing one of the most powerful batting line-ups in the world. Lara, the saviour Under tremendous pressure after West Indies had surrendered the first three Tests of the series without a semblance of a fight and with certain sections of the public and media calling for his head, Lara single-handedly steered West Indies cricket out of troubled waters with this one innings. Although West Indies had to be content with a draw in the end despite running up a massive total of 751-5 declared, nevertheless Lara's knock saved them from their first series whitewash in the Caribbean. What makes Lara's innings so unique is that he broke the world record twice within a period of ten years. In 1993-94 when he broke Gary Sobers' record of 365 not out, Lara then 24 years old batted for 768 minutes. A few weeks later Lara, in the form of his life completed a double by making a monumental 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham, the highest score in first-class cricket. Now at the age of 34, Lara has shown no signs of fatigue or physical disability and batted with zest and enthusiasm in carving out a world record score of 400 not out in a matter of 773 minutes. What his innings proved is that the powers of his physical and mental concentration knew no bounds. Lara's 400 can be classed, maybe not quite as cricket's equivalent of the four-minute mile although not far off. By claiming the record back from Australian left-hander Matthew Hayden after 185 days, Lara became only the second man in history to score two triple Test hundreds. Since the only other batsman to do so was the legendary Don Bradman the measurement of his achievement is immediately obvious. Since 1957-58 when Gery Sobers took the record from England's Len Hutton, it has remained in the hands of the southpaws passing on from Sobers to Lara, from Lara to (Matthew) Hayden and now back to Lara again. Southpaws indeed have their names embedded in the record books. Apart from Lara's feat, there is Saeed Anwar (highest one-day score 194), Chaminda Vaas (best one-day bowling 8/19), Allan Border (highest Test run aggregate 11174 and most Tests as captain 93), Wasim Akram (most one-day wickets 502 and most one-day appearances 356), Arjuna Ranatunga (most one-day matches as captain 193) to name a few. |
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