Cricket/Fourth Test match in Antigua: Brian Lara promised West Indies cricket a legacy and, yesterday, in front of a cacophonous crowd at the Recreation Ground, each and every one of whom one day will tell their grandchildren they were there, he delivered, as if to order, the highest individual score in Test match history.
By the time, 25 minutes after lunch, he turned wearily on his heels and made his way back to the dressing-room, he had not only gone beyond his previous record of 375, made here a decade ago, and Matthew Hayden's subsequent 380, set in Perth against Zimbabwe barely six months ago, but had gone on to an unbeaten 400.
Such had been his dominance that, given the inclination, his first-class record 501 might have been in jeopardy. In the end mercy prevailed. His innings had taken a shade under 13 hours and contained 43 fours and four sixes.
In 1961, Floyd Patterson became the first person to regain the heavyweight title, and now Lara, at the age of 34, likewise has become the first to recapture cricket's equivalent. Only Bradman has come close to this achievement but, although he held the mark in 1930 and scored a second triple four years later, he never reclaimed the record.
Both those innings, though, came early in his career. Lara has done so once with the exuberance of youth going into uncharted territory and once more as a wise, old head understanding precisely what was demanded.
As an example of concentration and sheer determination it was a remarkable exhibition.
The records simply kept tumbling, statement after statement being made in the wake of England's hitherto dominance throughout the series. Lara's individual brilliance besides, there was the ignominy, when Lara declared, of Michael Vaughan having conceded the highest ever total against England, 751 for five, in 820 matches.
In 1994, Lara had received support to the summit from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and yesterday it was Ridley Jacobs, the only Antiguan in the side, who saw him through, with an unbeaten 107, his third Test century. It seemed almost incidental to a day that was Lara's alone, but together the pair added an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 282, West Indies' highest against England and the fourth highest of all time.
Together Lara and Jacobs played England out of the match, leaving pride and the small matter of 552 to avoid a follow-on to play for. England failed to make an auspicious start, losing Vaughan for seven, caught behind off Pedro Collins' left-arm pace in the fifth over, and then Marcus Trescothick for 16 shortly before tea, caught behind cutting at Tino Best. At 48 for two, England were in the mire.
England had stuck to their task with diligence and good humour, but on this pitch they proved inadequate. There is some mitigation. Ashley Giles, who would have done much of the bowling, had failed to start because of a stomach upset and had been joined on the sick list since lunch on the second day by Matthew Hoggard.
It was compounded by Steve Harmison, England's best bowler, persistently following through on to a forbidden part of the pitch, receiving a third official warning and being forced, compulsorily, from the attack as a result.
It meant extra work for Andy Flintoff, Gareth Batty, Simon Jones and even Vaughan and Trescothick.
But the closest they came to a breakthrough yesterday was when Jacobs, on 87, drove over a gentle off-spinner from Vaughan and was bowled. Only the roar of the crowd made him turn and see the umpire's arm raised to signal a no-ball.
The air of expectation at the start was immense. Ten years ago Lara, 320 overnight, had sought the early-morning sanctuary of the golf course to calm his nerves. Yesterday he knocked up carefully in front of the Double Decker Stand, knowing that like the Hilary Steps the new ball, due in four overs, was there to be negotiated and then the summit was his. It came and, without undue fuss, it went, as Lara moved from an overnight 313.
He showed no nerves. On 374 he stepped from his crease and belted Batty straight and high into the Vivian Richards Stand to take him alongside Hayden. He composed himself as Vaughan kept him waiting, fiddling with the field. Batty bowled down the leg-side and Lara, swivelling on one knee, swept him away to the fine-leg boundary, ran through and began his celebratory cavorting.
The England congratulations were generous and sincere, none more so than the handshake from Graham Thorpe. For all the England team except for him this was a novel experience. Instead here he was, along with the Australian umpire Darrell Hair, as the only people to have endured it twice. Some people really have been there, done it and got the T-shirt.
Guardian Service
FINAL TEST WEST INDIES V ENGLAND
(Antigua)
Overnight: West Indies 595-5 (B Lara 313 no, R Sarwan 90, C Gayle 69).
WEST INDIES: First innings
B Lara not out 400
R Jacobs not out 107
Extras (b4 lb5 w2 nb5) 16
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Total 5 wkts dec (202 overs) ... 751
Fall: 1-33, 2-98, 3-330, 4-380, 5-469.
Did Not Bat: T Best, P Collins, C Collymore, F Edwards.
Bowling: Hoggard 18-2-82-0; Harmison 37-6-92-1; Flintoff 35-8-109-1; S P Jones 29-0-146-1; Batty 52-4-185-2; Vaughan 13-0-60-0; Trescothick 18-3-68-0.
