Lara's Record-Breaking Day: Shattering the 400-Run Barrier

(Brian Lara celebrating his 400 runs knock against England)

Not every day you see a player getting a double hundred or a triple hundred in a test match as it’s a rare feat and is achieved by only a few players. But it was the historic day of 12th April 2004, when the cricket fans saw an innings that just broke all the records as Brian Lara got to the 400 runs mark in a test innings against England. That inning just decimated the England team and their bowlers. It was just hard for them to think about how a man could bat for so long. But that’s just the talent of the great Brian Lara who still holds the record of the highest runs in a test innings by a batter.

England vs West Indies 4th Test at St John's

England toured West Indies in 2004 for a 4-match test series and a 7-match ODI series which was played after the completion of the test series. With the wins in the first 3 matches of the test series, England had a 3-0 lead and had already bagged the series. Being a dead rubber, the 4th match of the series was scheduled from 10th April to 14th April at the Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's which is situated in Antigua. On the flat pitch of the ground, West Indies was able to have the toss in their favour and hence went out to bat first.

With the opening combination of Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga, the West Indies team started well but soon lost their first wicket and then, it was a complete show from the team as Brian Lara took the number 3 spot and made a partnership with Chris Gayle. However, at 98 runs, England registered their 2nd wicket and then Ramnaresh Sarwan joined Brian Lara in the middle. Both of them completed a 110-run partnership on the first day and were looking set for a big score.

(Brian Lara during his 400* runs knock against England)

Day 2 was a complete showdown from Brian Lara as first, he completed his century and got a 232 runs partnership which ended with the fall of Ramnaresh Sarwan on 90 runs. However, there was no stopping of Brian Lara as he completed his double-century from just 260 balls and it was his 7th double-century in the test format. At the other end, West Indies lost the wickets of Ricardo Powell and Ryan Hinds which took the scorecard to 469 runs with the loss of 5 wickets.

Now, Brian Lara was joined by Ridley Jacobs in the middle and the pair ended the day 2 with 595 runs on the board with Lara reaching his second triple-century of the career. Coming to day 3 of the test match, the first session saw West Indies scoring quick runs as Ridley Jacobs completed his century while Brian Lara was at 384 runs during the Lunch Break and was eager to be the first man to reach the 400 runs mark.

(Brian Lara after breaching the 400 runs mark)

After the lunch break, it was the 202nd over where Brian Lara finally breached the 400 runs mark by taking a single on the 201.2 over of the game and he punched the air in delight and kissed the ground for such a big innings. The whole crowd applauded him for that innings while the cricketing world was in awe of his innings. West Indies finally declared their innings at 751 runs with the loss of 5 wickets as Brian Lara scored 400 runs in 582 balls which had 43 boundaries along with 3 sixes to his name. His partner, Ridley Jacobs was at 107 runs and both the batters were involved in a 282 runs partnership in the first innings of the game.

Result of the Match

After West Indies declared on 751 runs after the lunch break, everyone assumed that the match might end as a draw because of the limited time remaining in the game. With the pitch being flat, the England batters had a chance of making sure that they batted well. However, in the second innings when they went out to bat, the team suffered a collapse and were 98-5 and they made it look that a result might be possible by the end of the day 5.

However, Andrew Flintoff had some other plans and his century made it clear that the England team was doing everything possible to deny West Indies a win. England ended their first innings at 285 runs as they were all out in just 99 overs which allowed West Indies to give them a follow-on. Pedro Collins was the bowler in the first innings who took 4 wickets by giving away just 76 runs in his 26 overs.

West Indies vs England, 4th Test at St John's
West Indies	England
751/5 (declare) 202 overs	285 (99 overs)
Brian Lara 400* (582)	Andrew Flintoff 102* (224)
Ridley Jacobs 107* (207)	Mark Butcher 52 (83)
Gareth Batty 2/185 (52 overs)	Pedro Collins 4/76 (26 overs)
Stephen Harmison 1/92 (37 overs)	Tino Best 3/37 (10.3 overs)
	422/5 (f/o) (137 overs)
	Michael Vaughan 140 (267)
	Marcus Trescothick 88 (188)
	Ramnaresh Sarwan 2/26 (12 overs)
	Ryan Hinds 2/83 (38 overs)
Match drawn

In the follow-on, England started well and the idea was to get this match done in a draw so as to get the series win by 3-0. Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan gave the team an amazing start and took the team’s score to 182 runs without any loss. However, after that, there were wickets at the regular intervals of the game but half-centuries from Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain allowed the England team to stay alive in the match, and in the end, the match ended up in a draw. At the end of day 5, England’s score was 422 runs with the loss of 5 wickets and after 137 overs, both the teams shook hands to end the test match.