JEDDAH/RIYADH, 14 April 2004 — Cricket lovers across Saudi Arabia gave full marks with high commendation to West Indies captain Brian Lara, who became the first man to score 400 in a Test innings, on the third afternoon of the fourth and final Test against England on Monday.
Lara has emerged to be the cricket’s megastar, the greatest batsman and now a high-profile celebrity, showing all skills of the game with a performance unmatched in the history of cricket. This was the general comment from cricket fans.
In Riyadh, Samiullah Ali of Kanoo Trading Company was thrilled by the singular performance of Lara, who passed Matthew Hayden’s world record individual Test score of 380. He swept off spinner Gareth Batty for a single to backward square leg to reach the mark before declaring the innings on 751 for five. Lara finished on 400 not out.
George Fernandes, an executive and a cricket commentator: “Lara will certainly be an inspiration for the current and future players. His innings has created a history on the same ground after 10 years. Lara ended last year with the tag of being the highest ranked batsman in the world. His performance has not been very consistent in the past, however, the West Indian captain has displayed a magical performance and we expect a similar performance from him in the future. In fact, the compact left-hander has long been marked as a batsmen with rare gifts.”
Sharif Siddiqui, a local cricketer: “Lara’s Sydney innings has revived his team’s fortunes. We’ve been quite impressed with his performance. This is neither the beginning of his achievements nor the end of his brilliant performance. He scored six centuries in seven innings for Warwickshire in the county championship, culminating in a world record 501 against Durham. Some cricket players and lovers in Riyadh also recall how Lara resigned as captain in 2000, took a break from the game and was reappointed last year.”
In Jeddah, cricket fans were excited like others over Lara’s world highest individual Test score. Lara hit a four to move to 384 not out in a West Indies total of 716 for five.
Australia’s Matthew Hayden set the previous best of 380 in the first Test against Zimbabwe in Perth last October.
This is how cricket lovers in Jeddah reacted to Lara’s feat:
Shahid Haider, senior advertising executive: “Hats off to Lara. I always had faith in him despite the ups and downs in his career. He has always been my hero.”
Jamal Ahmed, formerly with Saudi Arabian Airlines’ financial department: “It’s a fantastic feat. It’s outstanding and very nice. The way he reached the milestone is better than Hayden’s. An added feature is Lara’s has been a chanceless innings.”
Alamgir Mirza, general manager of BMW spare parts: “One-Day-Internationals (ODIs) have changed the entire complexion of Tests. These days, the Tests are played like ODIs and so I’ll not be surprised if someone emerges to break Lara’s record in future. It could be India’s Virender Sehwag, who scored a triple century in the First Test against Pakistan in the ongoing three Test Series, or Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, a hard-hitting opener.
Kumar Krishnan of Saudi Majestic Team: “Fantastic player. Real great player. First man to achieve this and he did it on the same ground against England 10 years before when he broke Gary Sobers’ record.”
Patrick Fernandes, supervisor at Hidada’s engineering drawing office: “He’s too good. It was his dynamic innings. No words to describe his feat.”
