Postcard (14 March 1999)

14 March 1999

Postcard

from Justin Langer

Day two, second Test: Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

In my book "From Outback to Outfield" (published in May), I wrote the following piece on BC Lara:

"The Brian Lara Storm!

"A haunting whisper has been making its way through county cricket over the last few months. The whisper in the air has been something like this, 'Somebody is going to pay. Somebody is really going to pay. When it comes it is going to be ugly, it's going to big, it's going to be a monster. I just hope it isn't us who gets in the way of the inevitable storm'.

"Every county has joked about the daunting prospect, but unfortunately it was Middlesex County Cricket Club who today copped the hurricane that has been brewing ominously for the last four months. This hurricane of course was in the form of one BC Lara.

"After a disappointing season, with the bat and the authorities (if the paper is anything to go by), Brian Lara proved to all his detractors why he is one of the world's greatest batsmen.

"At stumps the West Indian and Warwickshire captain is a magnificent 225 not out. Although the Lords pitch is a 'belter', his innings was simply awesome. Technically he was as close to batting perfection as one can achieve, and his application, under growing internal and external pressure, was outstandingly admirable.

"The way he went about his innings was painfully, a pleasure to watch. In the changerooms tonight John Buchanan told me that in all his coaching career he has never witnessed a batting 'wagon wheel' like he saw today. A boundary was literally scored to every part of the ground. Most players score their runs in certain areas but today the computer showed an innings of lines all around the wicket. A tribute to Brian Lara's incredible ability and natural strokeplay.

"One of the most refreshing aspects of the way he played was the sheer simplicity of his game. If you didn't know the left-hander in the centre of Lords was BC Lara you could have easily mistaken him for any first-class, even village cricketer. That is, only in the way he looked of course.

"He walked onto cricket's Mecca wearing a pair of spikeless running shoes. His protective equipment included a pair of anonymous pads and gloves, a stickerless bat with a blue scoop in its spine and a blue Warwickshire helmet. Although he may have looked anonymous, the West Indian dynamo's feet danced like Michael Flatley's, as he flayed the ball to every part of Lords.

"It really was brilliant!

"As he cruised past a century, in 130 balls, a distinct memory flooded my mind. Playing golf in Alice Springs last year he gave me a tip about batting. 'JL, when you're having a good day you have to make sure you cash in and have a great day. There is a lot of days when you miss out, so when you get set you have to make sure you get yourself a really big score.'

"This advice has helped me in my batting exploits but it also caused me a migraine headache standing in the well overdue sunshine today. Knowing his appetite for his trademark double, triple and even quindruple centuries, we may not have seen the last of Lara in this innings.

"It was almost as if the blue skies and sunshine thawed out his feet, arms and bat as he went on a warpath of destruction on my teammate bowlers. A pleasure to watch for any cricket purist who enjoys destruction at its best."

For the second time in the past eight months I was unlucky (or lucky) enough to have seen Brian Lara score an unbeaten double century in a day. Today the stage may have been different, but the class of the performance was no less. In fact, considering we are in the middle of a Test match, and he was up against a world-class bowling attack, his 211 was pure batting magic.

You have to admire the man who has been under more public pressure than Bill Clinton, since he returned home from South Africa. Once again he answered his critics the only way possible; much to the frustration of my teammates and I. We now have a monumental battle on our hands to win this second Test.

Today we saw that nothing is impossible in this game.

Tomorrow is another day, a day that can only be better than today.

From Jamaica, JL