Cricketoria: Brian Lara Top Class Player in Cricket History

Brian Charles Lara, TC, OCC, AM (born 2 May 1969, in Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago) is a West Indian international cricket player. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994, which is the only quintuple hundred in first-class cricket history.

Lara also holds the record for the highest individual score in a test innings after scoring 400 not out against England at Antigua in 2004. He is the only batsman to have ever 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. Lara also holds the test record of scoring most number of runs in a single over in a Test match, when he scored 28 runs off an over by Robin Peterson of South Africa in 2003.

Lara's match-winning performance of 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1999 has been rated by Wisden as the second best batting performance in the history of Test cricket, next only to the 270 runs scored by Sir Donald Bradman in The Ashes Test match of 1937.

Full name: Brian Charles Lara

Born: 2 May 1969 (age 42) Santa Cruz, Trinidad

Nickname: The Prince

Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)

Batting style: Left-handed

Bowling style: Right-arm leg-break

Role: Higher middle order batsman

National side: West Indies

Test debut: 6 December 1990 v Pakistan

ODI debut: 9 November 1990 v Pakistan