Editing Brian Lara (section)

===International career===
{{see also|List of players who have scored 10,000 or more runs in One Day International cricket}}

In January 1993, Lara scored 277 versus [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] in Sydney. This, his maiden Test century in his fifth Test, was the turning point of the series as West Indies won the final two Tests to win the series 2–1. Lara went on to name his daughter Sydney after scoring 277 at the [[Sydney Cricket Ground|SCG]].

Lara holds several world records for high scoring. He has 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 Indies against [[English cricket team|England]] in 2004). Lara amassed his world record 501 in 474 minutes off only 427 balls. He hit 308 in boundaries (10 sixes and 62 fours). His partners were [[Roger Twose]] (115 partnership – 2nd wicket), [[Trevor Penney]] (314 – 3rd), [[Paul Smith (cricketer, born 1964)|Paul Smith]] (51 – 4th) and [[Keith John Piper|Keith Piper]] (322 unbroken – 5th). Earlier in that season Lara scored six centuries in seven innings while playing for Warwickshire.

[[File:BrianLaraUkexpatCropped.jpg|thumb|right|Brian Lara batting for the West Indies against [[India national cricket team|India]] at [[Kensington Oval]], [[Bridgetown]], Barbados, in 2002]]

He is the only man to have reclaimed the Test record score, having scored 375 against England in 1994, a record that stood until [[Matthew Hayden]]'s 380 against [[Zimbabwe national cricket team|Zimbabwe]] in 2003. His 400 not out also made him the second player (after [[Donald Bradman]]) to score two Test triple-centuries, and the second (after [[Bill Ponsford]]) to score two first-class quadruple-centuries. He has scored nine double-centuries in Test cricket, third after Bradman's twelve and [[Kumar Sangakkara]]'s eleven. As a captain, he scored five double-centuries, which is the highest by any one who is in charge. In 1995 Lara in the Test match away series against England, scored 3 centuries in three consecutive Matches which earned him the Man of the Series award. The Test Series was eventually drawn 2–2. He also held the record for the highest total number of runs in a Test career, after overtaking [[Allan Border]] in an innings of 226 played at [[Adelaide Oval]], Australia in November 2005.

Lara captained the West Indies from 1998 to 1999, when West Indies suffered their first whitewash at the hands of [[South Africa national cricket team|South Africa]]. Following this they played [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] in a four-Test series which was drawn 2–2, with Lara scoring 546 runs including three centuries and one double hundred. In the second Test at [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]] he scored 213 while in the third Test he scored 153* in the second innings as West Indies chased down 311 with one wicket left. He won the Man of the Match award for both matches and was also named Man of the Series.

The [[Wisden 100]] rates Lara's 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown in 1998–99 as the second-best innings ever after Sir Donald Bradman's 270 against England in Melbourne in 1936–37.

In 2001 Lara was named the Man of the Carlton Series in Australia with an average of 46.50, the highest average by a West Indian in that series, scoring two half centuries and one century, 116 against Australia. That same year Lara amassed 688 runs in the three match away Test series against Sri Lanka making three centuries, and one fifty—including the [[List of cricketers who have scored a double century and a century in the same Test match|double-century and a century]] in the first and second innings of the 3rd Test match at the [[Sinhalese Sports Ground]], equating to 42% of the team's runs in that series. These extraordinary performances led [[Muttiah Muralitharan]] to state that Lara was the most dangerous batsman he had ever bowled to.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/srilanka/content/story/133274.html |title=Murali: 'Lara's still No. 1' |publisher=Content-uk.cricinfo.com |access-date=21 August 2010}}</ref>

Lara was reappointed as captain against the touring Australians in 2003, and struck 110 in his first Test match back in charge, showing a return to stellar performance. Later that season, under his captaincy, West Indies won the two match Test series against Sri Lanka 1–0 with Lara making a double-century in the First Test. In September 2004, West Indies won the [[2004 ICC Champions Trophy]] in England under his captaincy. For his performances in 2004, he was named both in the World Test XI and ODI XI by ICC.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/23121796|title=Rahul Dravid is the ICC's player of the year|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref>

In March 2005, Lara declined selection for the West Indies team because of a dispute over his personal [[LIME (telecommunications company)|Cable & Wireless]] sponsorship deal, which clashed with the Cricket Board's main sponsor, [[Digicel]]. Six other players were involved in this dispute, including stars [[Chris Gayle]], [[Ramnaresh Sarwan]] and [[Dwayne Bravo]]. Lara said he declined selection in a stand of solidarity, when these players were dropped because of their sponsorship deals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/story/146390.html |title='I'm ready to play if best team is selected' – Lara |publisher=Content-uk.cricinfo.com |access-date=21 August 2010}}</ref> The issue was resolved after the first Test of the series against the touring [[South Africa national cricket team|South African team]].

Lara returned to the team for the second Test (and scored a huge first innings score of 196), but in the process lost his captaincy indefinitely to the newly appointed [[Shivnarine Chanderpaul]]. In the next Test, against the same opponents, he scored a 176 in the first innings. After a one-day series against South Africa, he scored his first Test century against the visiting Pakistanis in the first Test at [[Kensington Oval]], [[Bridgetown]], Barbados which the West Indies eventually won.

[[File:Brian Lara lap of honour.jpg|thumb|right|Lara during his lap of honour in his final international match, [[2007 Cricket World Cup]]]]
For his performances in 2005, he was named in the [[ICC Test Team of the Year|World Test XI]] by ICC.

On 26 April 2006 Lara was reappointed the captain of the West Indies cricket team for the third time. This followed the resignation of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had been captain for thirteen months—in which the West Indies won just one of the 14 Test matches they had competed. In May 2006, Lara led the West Indies to successful One-Day series victories against Zimbabwe and India. Lara's team played Australia in the finals of the DLF Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy where they finished runners up in both finals.

On 16 December 2006 he became the first player for the West Indies to pass 10,000 One Day International runs,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Batting/BattingCareerRuns_ODI.asp?Stat=5000|title=HowSTAT! ODI Cricket – Most Career Runs|website=howstat.com}}</ref> and, along with [[Sachin Tendulkar]], one of only two players, at the time, to do so in both forms of the game. On 10 April 2007 Lara confirmed his retirement from one-day cricket post the [[2007 Cricket World Cup]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/other_international/west_indies/6543709.stm "Lara confirms one-day retirement"], ''[[BBC News]]'', 11 April 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2007.</ref> A few days later he announced that he would in fact be retiring from all international cricket after the tournament.<ref>Brian Gough, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/other_international/west_indies/6574317.stm "Legend Lara to end Windies career"], ''BBC News'', 19 April 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2007.</ref>

Lara played his final international game on 21 April 2007 in a [[dead rubber]] World Cup game against England. He was run out for 18 after a mix-up with Marlon Samuels; England won the game by 1 wicket. Before the end of this World Cup Glenn McGrath stated that Lara is the greatest batsman that he has ever bowled to.<ref>[http://www.rediff.com/wc2007/2007/apr/28mcgrath.htm "McGrath rates Lara just ahead of Tendulkar"], ''Rediff'', 28 April 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2007.</ref>