Brian Lara
By: Cerone White
On this day in Caribbean history, May 2, 1969, former Trinidadian international cricket player Brian Charles Lara was born. Lara is known as the “Michael Jordon” of cricket. Born in Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago given the nickname “Princey” the left-handed batsman has broken and made history in the sport of cricket. Lara holds the record for the highest individual score in a test innings (in 2004 against England in Antigua). Lara is also the only batsman who has scored a hundred, a double century, a triple century, a quadruple century and a quintuple century in first class games over the course of a senior career.
It is safe to say that Lara was bred from an early age to enter the sport of cricket. He is the 10th of 11 children for his parents. He was enrolled in the local Harvard Coaching Clinic at the age of six for weekly coaching sessions. At the age fourteen, Lara moved on to Fatima College which is a government-assisted Roman Catholic secondary school where he started and further developed his skills as a promising young cricket player.
On April 19, 2007, with close to over 30 years in the sport he announced to the world that he would be retiring. Lara was inducted into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame on September 14, 2012. In 2013, Lara became the 31st West Indian to receive an Honorary Life Membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
