Another Brian Lara special in the West Indies vs Australia test series to light up this day 21 years back. On 4th April 1999, Brian Lara scored his third century in the series. He already had two centuries in his pocket in the ongoing series. So this ton we are reminiscing was the third part of his ‘Australian Trilogy’.
His previous centuries in that series, 213 in Jamaica and 153 in Barbados were two of the all-time greatest test innings resulting in West Indies wins. This innings in Antigua may not be as useful as the above two but like many Brian Lara knocks, this was also special. This had its own charm.
Australia, winning the toss elected to bat first. The top six batsmen of Australia made sure to contribute something significant, with captain Steve Waugh leading from the front. Waugh scored unbeaten 72 runs. He came into bat with Australia’s scoreboard reading 96 for three. He stayed to build partnerships and took the score to 303. Colin Miller, in the end, contributed 43 off 38 balls.
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West Indies lost the first two wickets at the difference of only one run. Adrian Griffith went with the score 19 for one and the other opener Sherwin Campbell left when West Indies were 20 for one. Then came the skipper, Brian Charles Lara. He scored an 84-ball 100. Apart from him, it was only Carl Hooper who gave a real fight and scored 47 off 99 runs. While Dave Joseph added 28 runs off 104 balls, Lara continued to play strokes and built a partnership of 116 with Joseph. Technically Lara contributed 100 to the stand. Post Hopper none could stay for long from West Indies camp and West Indies were all out for 222 in the first innings.
In the second innings, Australia scored 306 to set a target of 388 for the Windies. Lara’s boys were all out for just 211. There was a half-century from Griffith but what Lara did in the first innings impressed everyone. That ‘quick’ 100 was an example of a master class at that point.
The late '90s was the time for the great Tendulkar vs Brian Lara debate. Tendulkar moved ahead slightly with his heroics against Warne in the 1998 test series in India as well as in the desert storm matches in Sharjah where Tendulkar delivered a match-winning 100 on his 25th birthday. With these three centuries, Lara came back strongly in the race. Although he was more temperamental and did not possess the consistency of Tendulkar, his ability to single-handedly change a match situation again raised the debate. Interestingly both their key performances came against the Australians, arguably the strongest outfit in that era and for a few more years to come.
Check Out the Scorecard for the match: Full Scorecard 4th April 1999 (West Indies vs Australia)
