LARA'S THEME HALTS SOUTH AFRICAN JUGGERNAUT
National Stadium, Karachi
• 11 March 1996
Brian Lara did not always relish
the slow wickets of the sub-continent. With a penchant for playing even
spinners on the rise, he was rarely happy with the ball not coming on to the
bat. And here was a pitch which offered turn and also bounce. The opponents,
South Africa, were in prime form, having won ten consecutive matches, including
five in a row in the round-robin stage of the present competition. But when
Lara was in good nick, little else mattered.
He came in at 42 for one off just
six overs, and took charge rightaway. Using his wrists in inimitable fashion,
Lara cut and flicked the pacemen. When the spinners came on he used his feet,
and also employed the sweep to good effect. He raced to his fifty off just 45
deliveries, and then clouted Pat Symcox for 22 runs in an over, including five
boundaries, four of them off successive balls. These were glimpses of the Lara
of 1994, who broke the records for the highest individual scores in Tests as
well as first-class cricket. Since then his career was chequered for a few
years until he shifted into overdrive. On this day he was at his effervescent
best.
The South Africans are usually an
efficient, professional side. But they found themselves helpless when faced
with the awesome talent of Lara in such brilliant touch. The seam of Shaun
Pollock, Craig Matthews, Brian McMillan and Hansie Cronje came to him as easy
as the contrasting spin of Pat Symcox and Paul Adams. In this mood no bowler
troubled him as he toyed with all that was hurled at him, in his cavalier
style. Being slight of build, not for him were shots of power. Rarely did he
loft the ball. He wielded his bat with the deftness of touch of a born artist.
Some of the strokes were patently his own - playing late, waiting for the ball
to do what it had to off the pitch, and then guiding it with extremely skillful
wrists. Unlike Mohammad Azharuddin, who used his wrists to flick the ball
towards the on-side, Lara's wristwork enabled him to place the ball with a
lightness of touch on the off-side as well. Hardly ever did you hear the thump
of the ball against Lara's bat. He seemed to merely caress it most of the time.
In the company of Shivnaraine
Chanderpaul, Lara added 138 runs for the second wicket in just under 25 overs.
By then the West Indies had reached 180 in 30.5 overs, and poised for a total
of 300. Lara cruised on, reaching his first World Cup century off 83 deliveries
in his 13th match, having hit five half-centuries earlier. This was the
second-quickest in the event , taking one ball more than Clive Lloyd's hundred
in the 1975 final. Lara proceeded to notch up 111 runs off just 94 balls with 16
hits to the fence. With this he lifted his average in the premier event to over
50. After his departure the West Indies innings lost momentum somewhat, but
Lara had already ensured that his side's total would be enough to get them into
the semi-finals. "The difference was Lara", rued Cronje.
Not for nothing was Lara
considered a temperamental genius. When in form there was no sight quite like
him in international cricket. It is also a fact that in the four years prior to
this tournament - and after - the West Indies relied almost exclusively on
Lara, Richie Richardson and Chanderpaul to get the runs. And so was it in their
last three matches, in which they performed so well, in the 1996 tournament.
Perhaps Lara felt uninspired in a lacklustre team. Whatever it was, innings
like the one at Karachi were few and often far between during that phase from
this immensely gifted player.
(Author Indra
Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).
The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011
ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3
Distributed in India by Variety Book Depot, Connaught
Place, New Delhi, Phones + 91 11 23417175, 23412567
Available in leading bookshops, and online on several
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