Brian Lara -was he 2nd to Bradman?

[Harsh Thakor]

In the modern era no batsman posessed as much sublime or creative genius as Brian Charles Lara.For pure aesthetic quality he outrivalled every modern great.His batting was simply poetry in motion.He destroyed bowling attacks with the brutality of a bomber destroying an airbase but combined with the race of a pianist and the creativity of a poet.No batsman ever in test cricket posessed such a penchant for registering mammoth scores and he twice gained the world record.Above all he could still mantain a breathtaking scoring rate when scoring double centuries.Just 3 weeks ago he was inducted into the West Indian hall of fame. At his best even Sachin Tendulkar was overpowered by Lara.From a technical point of view I can never forget his 277 at Sydney after his side was reeling at 5.2.The domination of bowling was complete and it was arguably the best innings by a West Indian batsman in Australia.Lara was equally adept on both the back and front foot and his stroke composition was simply poetic.He bisected the field with the skill of a surgeon combined with the creativity of a painter. In 1994 he broke Gary Sobers World record score with a mammoth effort scoring 375 of 638 balls and 766 mins.He revealed his great ability of concentration like Hanif Mohammad and Len Hutton but also the ability to continuously dominate the bowling.When he broke the world record cricket witnessed one of it's most emotional scenes with Sir Garfield Sobers running onto the pitch to greet Lara.We were reminded of an Olympic marathon runner breaking a record.He aggregated 798 run sin that series.In 1995 in the summer of England he blazed himself to glory scoring 3 centuries in consecutive tests. However to me Brian Lara's greatest achievement was the way he turned the fate of the 1999 Frank Worrell trophy.West Indies were down and out in 2 test matches before Lara with scores of 213 and 153 not out single-handedly turned the tide and won consecutive set matches for his country.In the 3rd set at Barbados West Indies were precariously placed at 104-5,chasing 308 on a broken wicket.Lara ,displaying the skill of a surgeon performing a succesful operation on a patient considered incurable scored 153 not out and took his team home by the slenderest margin of 1 wicket.His range of strokes were awesome and his footwork razor sharp.It was one of the most supreme exhibition's of batting ever seen in test cricket. In South Africa in 2002 he was magnificient when registering a double century.He displayed meticulous precision when dispatching the likes of Alan Donald all over the place and in batting with the tail.In 2001 in Sri Lanka he aggregated a phenomenal 688 runs championing a virtual losing cause in all 3 test matches.He displayed imperious skill against Murlitharan. From 2004 to 2006 he was at his brilliant best conquering attacks of Bangladesh,South Africa and Australia scoring tons at a phenomenal frequency.In this period Sachin Tendulkar's form was in decline.In March 2004 he regained the world record score in spectacular style scoring the first ever 400 or quadruple score.We saw Muhammad Ali re-incarnated in cricket that day.After batting for 682 balls and 788 mins he reached the landmark.Making the world record score twice may never be equalled.In his last test match in Australia in 2005 he gave a grand farewell scoring a double hundred in truly magnificient style. In one day International Lara could be equally adept at his best .I can't forget his 15 not out at Sharjah in 1993 when he ripped the heart out of Waqar and Wasim,and blazed his team to glory.His match-winning century at Lahore in the 1996 World cup quarter final v.South Africa is also one of the best I have ever seen as well as his century in the 1st match of the 2003 world cup v.South Africa. Where would I place Lara amongst the pantheon of great batsman?It is highly debatable .I would without question place Don Bradman at the top but it would be an intense battle for the 2nd spot.It must be stated that Brian Lara held the brunt of one of the weakest batting sides of all time and thus championed a crisis more than many of the all-time great batsman.For sheer domination of bowling at his best he matched strides with Don Bradman,Viv Richards and overshadowed Sachin Tendulkar.Viv Richards had the advantage of playing for a champion team like Bradman.Amongst left -handers it was neck to neck between Lara ,Graeme Pollock and Gary Sobers but I rate Lara the best left-handed batsman of all.Both Pollock and Sobers did not weather a storm as much as Brian and also fell marginally short of his finesse.For sheer creative genius lara is a strong contender for the top spot with Denis Compton or Rohan Kanhai.For mere natural ability he was almost in the Don Bradman or Viv Richard's class.In terms of elegance Lara posessed the silken touch of David Gower or Zaheer Abbas.When the chips were down Lara was one of the all-time great battlers withGeorge Headley, Rahul Dravid,Javed Miandad and Alan Border.Lara has the highest average score of the team's total score after Bradman and George Headley.For scoring mammoth totals Lara was the king,overshadowing even Bradman and Viv Richards and Tendulkar by a long way.No batsman ever played spin bowling as well as Lara even Tendulkar.In the pure statistical light he was arguably next only to Bradman and Tendulkar.Had Brian played for a champion team he may well have been one of test cricket's all-time great match-winners. Where Lara failed was in the sphere of consistency.In some phases his average fell and he consistently produced a string of low scores.This was particularly true in 1996,1997 and 2000.This is where the likes of George Headley,Ken Barrington ,Jack Hobbes ,Sunil Gavaskar or Sachin Tendulkar scored over Lara.Lara was also not as adept against pure pace bowling as Viv Richards or Gary Sobers and sometimes vulnerable to short-pitched bowling.He did not match Viv Richards ferocity against lethal pace bowling.Technically his footwork was razor sharp but he fell short of the technical prowess of Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid who were more compact. Brian Lara's greatest rivals for the 2nd best to Bradman would be Viv Richards,Jack Hobbs,George Headley,Sachin Tendulkar and Gary Sobers.I still mantain that Viv could turn the complexion of a game in no time more than any great batsman and in his peak period he was the best after Bradman.George Headley performed marginally better in a crisis and better on bad tracks while Tendulkar and Hobbs were more consistent,who dominated at the top for a phenomenal period.In pure match performances as analysed by Ananth Narayana in 2009 Brian Lara was rated 2nd to only Bradman with superior match performances to Tendulkar and Viv Richards.Match performances analyse the sum of a player's performances assessing strength of opposition,nature of pitches,strength of attack and the player's contribution .What went in favour of Lara was his playing for a relatively weak team where he could prove his ability in a crisis unlike Viv Richards . For a considerable part of his career,Sachin Tendulkar played for an outstanding batting side and thus he could not match Lara's average percentage score of the team's total score.In career performances where run aggregate,average and consistent are added Tendulkar outstrips Viv Richards and Brian Lara.In full flow I mantain that Lara was greater match-winner than Sachin and at his best would marginally edge Sachin in a crisis.He could well be the candidate for the 2nd best to the Don.At his best it would be a photo between Viv Richards and Lara,while overall Hobbs and Tendulkar may edge them both. Ananth Narayana's statistical analysis of Lara from cricinfo blogs Blow I am re-producing Ananth Narayana's statistical research on Lara from cricinfo blogs.I than Anantha Naraya for this great statistical contribution.Readers can find it in the It Figures section of cricinfo blogs. Matches: 131 Innings: 232 Not Outs: 6 (2.6%) Runs: 11953 Average: 52.89 100-50: 34-48 Frequency of 100s: 6.8 Tests/100 Avge value of 100s: 173.2. Form-dips : 9 Just a recap of well-known facts. Lara is the only batsman to reach 400 in Tests. Also the only batsman to reach 500 in First Class cricket. One of four players to have crossed 300 twice in their Test careers. Only player to have gained the Test high-score record, lost it and regained it, all within the span of 10 years. Lara's nine double-hundreds are second only to Bradman's tally of 12 double-hundreds. But the real eye-opener is the Not out percentage. This stands at an incredibly low 2.6% and explains why Lara's average is on the lower side. This value of 2.6 is the lowest amongst the batsmen who have crossed 5000 runs: a list of 100 top batsmen. It is indicative of the way Lara played. His not out innings are 400*, 153*, 80*, 48*, 14* and 13*. Two historic innings lead this list. Balls faced: 19753 Scoring rate: 60.5 Balls faced per inns: 85.1. Amongst the top batsmen, only Sehwag, Richards and Pietersen are ahead of Lara in the scoring rate measure. The average balls faced per innings is, as expected, on the lower side. Top 5 innings analysis Top 5 inns (Runs) : 400 375 277 226 221 Total: 1499 Avge: 299.8 These small analytical segments bring new insights. The first is the average of the top-5 innings played by the concerned batsman. Lara's average of almost 300 is the highest of all batsmen. Next comes Bradman with 292.2 and then comes Sehwag, with 275.2. This confirms Lara's penchant for playing huge innings. Top 5 inns (Balls): 582 538 372 360 354 Total: 2206 Avge: 441.2 The next one is to look at the top 5 innings in terms of balls faced. The balls played data is available even for many older players. But this is not a complete analysis. Notwithstanding his attacking play, Lara has genuinely played many long innings. His average for the top-5 innings is a huge 441. The leader in this regards is Hutton with 588, followed by Hammond, with 566. Amongst modern batsmen, Jayawardene leads with 463 and Lara comes next. Dravid's average is 438. Lara as the highest scorer HS Inns: 65 % of inns: 28.0 HS Runs total: 7613 HS Next Best: 3623 % of Lara's total: 47.6 Lara has top-scored in 28.0% of the innings he played in. His is the highest amongst modern batsmen. Only Gavaskar matches this number. Of course, many old timers have figures in excess of 30, Bradman leading with 37.5%. The matching with Gavaskar indicates how often Lara carried his team. The next one is an even more enlightening one. This defines the support received. Lara received the least support amongst all batsmen. The next best batsmen have totalled 47.6% of Lara's aggregate, below even half-way stage. He is the only batsman to have received below 50% support. Sehwag is next with 53.5% and then comes Hutton with 53.7%. Just as a comparison, the number for Tendulkar is 65.4% and for Ponting, 64.9%. This is a clear confirmation of how often Lara carried the burden. Innings break-down Sub-10 innings: No- 62 % of total-26.7% Sub-25 innings: No-100 % of total-43.1% Sub-50 innings: No-147 % of total-63.4% Team runs/balls analysis Runs added with late order batsmen (7-11) : 1487 (25) Avge runs added with late order batsmen : 59.5 Team runs while at crease : 21448 Batsman's % Runs contribution : 55.7% Team balls while at crease : 38562 % of balls faced while at crease: 51.2% Total team runs : 63049 Batsman Runs % : 19.0% Lara's overall runs contribution to his team total is a reasonably high 19%. Bradman has contributed 25%. Most batsmen contribute between 15 and 17%. It is understandable that Lara scores 55% of runs while at crease. He outscored his fellow batsmen often. Innings analysis Description T I N Runs Avge 100 50 Freq Team-Runs % Inns 1 58 1 4000 70.18 12 12 4.8 18111 22.1% Inns 2 72 0 4249 59.01 13 21 5.5 23053 18.4% Inns 3 56 0 2264 40.43 7 8 8.0 12704 17.8% Inns 4 46 5 1440 35.12 2 7 23.0 9181 15.7% Home/Away analysis Home 65 111 5 6217 58.65 17 26 6.5 32020 19.4% Away 66 121 1 5736 47.80 17 22 7.1 31029 18.5% This partially works against Brian Lara who has a considerably bettter record at home than away. Result based analysis Won 32 52 4 2929 61.02 8 16 6.5 15645 18.7% Drawn 36 54 2 3708 71.31 12 10 4.5 18400 20.2% Lost 63 126 0 5316 42.19 14 22 9.0 29004 18.3% Lara's playing for weak batting side explains why he was such champion in losing causes. Analysis by country faced Australia 31 58 2 2856 51.00 9 11 6.4 13963 20.5% Bangladesh 2 2 0 173 86.50 1 1 2.0 911 19.0% England 30 51 3 2983 62.15 7 11 7.3 13918 21.4% India 17 29 0 1002 34.55 2 6 14.5 8908 11.2% New Zealand 11 17 0 704 41.41 1 5 17.0 5080 13.9% Pakistan 12 22 0 1173 53.32 4 3 5.5 6109 19.2% South Africa 18 35 0 1715 49.00 4 9 8.8 9432 18.2% Sri Lanka 8 14 1 1125 86.54 5 2 2.8 3577 31.5% Zimbabwe 2 4 0 222 55.50 1 0 4.0 1151 19.3% Batting position analysis Bat-Pos 1 1 0 20 20.00 0 0 0.0 Bat-Pos 2 1 0 91 91.00 0 1 0.0 Bat-Pos 3 66 4 3749 60.47 9 13 7.3 Bat-Pos 4 148 1 7535 51.26 24 31 6.2 Bat-Pos 5 14 1 536 41.23 1 3 14.0 Bat-Pos 6 1 0 8 8.00 0 0 0.0 Bat-Pos 8 1 0 14 14.00 0 0 0.0 Avge Batting Position: 3.78 Like Tendulkar, no.4 was his favourite batting position. However unlike his fellow not-so-tall-legend, he batted at no.3 often. He averaged over 60 at no.3 and above 50 at no.4. These were his bread-and-butter positions and he performed very well there. Incidentally the sole no.5 century was the most famous of all: the Bridgetown classic of 153*. Analysis by year 1990 1 2 0 49 24.50 0 0 0.0 1991 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.0 1992 3 6 0 195 32.50 0 3 0.0 1993 7 10 0 586 58.60 1 3 10.0 1994 8 14 0 996 71.14 2 4 7.0 1995 12 20 2 1222 67.89 4 6 5.0 1996 5 9 0 226 25.11 0 1 0.0 1997 12 21 0 859 40.90 3 3 7.0 1998 9 15 1 608 43.43 0 5 0.0 1999 8 15 1 832 59.43 3 4 5.0 2000 9 17 0 497 29.24 2 1 8.5 2001 9 18 0 1151 63.94 3 4 6.0 2002 7 10 0 351 35.10 0 3 0.0 2003 10 19 1 1344 74.67 5 5 3.8 2004 12 21 1 1178 58.90 3 4 7.0 2005 9 17 0 1110 65.29 5 0 3.4 2006 10 18 0 749 41.61 3 2 6.0 Ignoring the starting years, Lara probably had three bad years, 1996, 2000 and 2002. The spreading of these years also was responsible for Lara comfortably maintaining averages of well over 50 over multi-year spans. He made up for his small scores with huge scores. Peer comparisons Peer-All-T7 232 11953 52.89 14372 523291 36.41 1.45 Peer-Team-T7 232 11953 52.89 1268 40252 31.74 1.67 Lara out-performed his peers by a margin of 45% and his team-mates by 67%. While there are others who have out-performed their peers by higher margins, Kallis by 52%, there is no one even close in the team-mates comparisons. He was head-and-shoulders above them. S.Rajesh from cricinfo Break-up of Lara's Test career Period Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s 1990-91 - 1995-96 33 3197 60.32 7/ 17 1996-97 - 2000-01 47 3356 39.95 8/ 16 2001-02 - 2006-07 51 5420 60.90 19/ 15 It is remarkable that in 2 phases of his career he averaged over 60 runs.

[vamos_rafa]

Harsh---Tumko koi homework mila hai kya ki cricket se related saare stats aaj site par post karne hai?

[Vijay.Sharma]

Sachin Lara Don = Marshall Wasim Hadlee Close the thread

[panther]

yes

[Vijay.Sharma]

Sachin Lara Don = Marshall Wasim Hadlee Close the thread

Ok bonus for Harsh Sachin Lara Don Richards = Marshall Wasim Hadlee Steyn

[Sandeep99]

I find it extremely unfair to compare Sachin and Lara! Played in weak teams so not many match winning knocks! Cricket blessed to have both playing at the same time!! In the same way, Dravid,Kallis,Ponting,Steve Waugh are in the league 2 and Laxman,Inzamam,Sehwag,Mark Waugh etc are in the league 3

[Laaloo]

Just because one idiot trolls doesn't mean everyone has to follow him. It's not that hard to discuss what's in the OP

[Laaloo]

These are pretty good articles if you have time to read: http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=8707&highlight=greatest+batsman http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=26717