<sod> '''Brian Charles Lara''' (born [[May 2]], [[1969]] in Cantaro, Santa Cruz, [[Trinidad and Tobago]]), is a [[West Indies|West Indian]] [[cricket (sport)|cricket]]er.
 
 He is a talented left-handed [[batsman]] with an exceptional ability to build massive [[innings]]. Lara is the world record holder for the highest individual score in both [[first-class cricket]] (501 not out for [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]] against [[Durham County Cricket Club|Durham]] in [[1994]]) and [[Test cricket]] (400 not out for the [[West Indian cricket team|West Indies]] against [[English cricket team|England]] on [[12 April]], [[2004]]). In scoring the innings of 400 not out, he became the first man to reclaim the Test record score, having scored 375 against England in [[1994]] (a record that stood until [[Matthew Hayden]]'s 380 against [[Zimbabwean cricket team|Zimbabwe]] in [[2003]]). The score also meant that he was the second player (after [[Donald Bradman]]) to score two Test innings of more than 300, and only the second ever to score 400+ in two first-class innings.
 
 *Comfortably [[batting average|averaging]] over 50 per innings (a benchmark for batting greatness in test cricket), as of [[28 June]], [[2004]]), Lara is ranked the number one batsman in test cricket according to the [[PricewaterhouseCoopers]] Cricket Ratings [http://www.pwcratings.com].
 *Lara has played some of the most brilliant innings in recent years. [[Wisden]] published a top 100 list in July 2001, a distillation of the best performances from 1,552 Tests, 54,494 innings and 29,730 bowling performances. Three innings by Lara were placed in the top 15. [http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2001/jul/30bat100.htm] His heroic 153 not out in [[Bridgetown, Barbados]], during West Indies' 2-2 home series draw against Australia in [[1998]]-[[1999]] was deemed the second greatest Test innings ever played, behind [[Donald Bradman]]'s 270 against England in the Third Test of the [[1936]]-[[1937]] series at [[Melbourne]]. On [[13 October]], [[2003]], PricewaterhouseCoopers Ratings team published a list of top innings since [[1990]] under their own methodology.  Lara's 213 against Australia in [[Kingston, Jamaica]] in [[1999]] came out to be the top inning. His 375 was placed 8th and his three other innings, including the 153 not out, were not far behind.
 
==Career in graphs==
The following four graphs show Brian Lara's batting average in four sections by chronological order:
 <br><br>
 [[Image:Lara_Career_Graph_1.gif|100px|The beginning]] 
 [[Image:Lara_Career_Graph_2.gif|100px|First drop]] 
 <eod> <sod>'''Brian Charles Lara''' (born [[May 2]], [[1969]] in Cantaro, Santa Cruz, [[Trinidad and Tobago]] and referred to on scorecards as 'BC Lara'), is a [[West Indies|West Indian]] [[cricket (sport)|cricket]]er.
 
 He is a talented left-handed [[batsman]] with an exceptional ability to build massive [[innings]]. Lara is the world record holder for the highest individual score in both [[first-class cricket]] (501 not out for [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]] against [[Durham County Cricket Club|Durham]] in [[1994]]) and [[Test cricket]] (400 not out for the [[West Indian cricket team|West Indies]] against [[English cricket team|England]] on [[12 April]], [[2004]]). In scoring the innings of 400 not out, he became the first man to reclaim the Test record score, having scored 375 against England in [[1994]] (a record that stood until [[Matthew Hayden]]'s 380 against [[Zimbabwean cricket team|Zimbabwe]] in [[2003]]). The score also meant that he was the second player (after [[Donald Bradman]]) to score two Test innings of more than 300, and only the second ever to score 400+ in two first-class innings.
 
 *Comfortably [[batting average|averaging]] over 50 per innings (a benchmark for batting greatness in test cricket), as of [[28 June]], [[2004]]), Lara is ranked the number one batsman in test cricket according to the [[PricewaterhouseCoopers]] Cricket Ratings [http://www.pwcratings.com].
 *Lara has played some of the most brilliant innings in recent years. [[Wisden]] published a top 100 list in July 2001, a distillation of the best performances from 1,552 Tests, 54,494 innings and 29,730 bowling performances. Three innings by Lara were placed in the top 15. [http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2001/jul/30bat100.htm] His heroic 153 not out in [[Bridgetown, Barbados]], during West Indies' 2-2 home series draw against Australia in [[1998]]-[[1999]] was deemed the second greatest Test innings ever played, behind [[Donald Bradman]]'s 270 against England in the Third Test of the [[1936]]-[[1937]] series at [[Melbourne]]. On [[13 October]], [[2003]], PricewaterhouseCoopers Ratings team published a list of top innings since [[1990]] under their own methodology.  Lara's 213 against Australia in [[Kingston, Jamaica]] in [[1999]] came out to be the top inning. His 375 was placed 8th and his three other innings, including the 153 not out, were not far behind.
 
==Batting average==
Lara has a batting average in [[test cricket|test]] is over 53 and in [[One Day International|one-dayers]] he averages over 42 at a strike rate of close to 80. The following four graphs shows his batting average in four sections by chronological order:
 <br><br>
 [[Image:Lara_Career_Graph_1.gif|100px|The beginning]] 
 [[Image:Lara_Career_Graph_2.gif|100px|First drop]] 
 <eod>