OTD | Brian Lara went all-out with his highest score of 501 not out in first class cricket in 1994

There have been a lot of legendary players in the West Indies Cricket Team who we have enjoyed watching as major cricket fans. The early 2000’s was the first time we saw a bit of a decline in the Caribbean giants, but that does not mean we never got to see some great players in the mix who took the cricketing world by storm and have achieved a lot of success throughout their career.

One of the biggest players who has carried the team in the 90’s and the early 2000’s is none other than Brian Lara. The Trinidadian batter was not only known for his flamboyant style of batting, but also his ability to play longer innings. This is the reason why he has scored over 22000 runs in his 430 international matches and averaging 40.48 in ODI’s and 52.88 in Test matches. He has carried the West Indian team in his incredible 17-year career.

The magical 501 runs people have forgotten

We all remember Brian Lara’s incredible Test innings of 400 against a top ranked England side in Antigua which is a record no one has been able to break in International cricket till now. However there is another innings in first class cricket that people hardly remember. This was a first class game where Lara who was playing for Warwickshire in 1994 created history. The Durham boys might have felt happy with scoring 556 runs in the first innings to put the Warwickshire team under pressure. Unfortunately they still had to face the wrath of the Brian Charles Lara.

Warwickshire needed something special to make sure they got ahead of the game and that is where the Trinidadian came into the scene as he scored 501 runs from just 427 deliveries which consisted of 62 fours and 10 sixes. This score alone took Warwickshire to 810 runs and made sure they had a first innings lead in the match. This is the highest score in first class cricket in the early days of the West Indian in 1994. It is hard to believe that this innings has been forgotten despite being one of the greatest innings in cricket history.

Also read: Joe Root became the 14th batter to achieve 10000 Test runs milestone in 2022