Brian Lara's inside-out drive

Any of Brian Lara's drives warrant inclusion for their sheer class. His pristine back-foot flail through the covers is arguably his signature stroke, but it's the inside-out drive - the off-drive to a leg-side delivery - which really shows how this guy bats alone.

As a bowler, the first sign of impending disaster is the backlift. Brian Lara's bat comes straight up behind him. Vertically. Really he should put a sign on the back of it saying: 'Take that, you bastard'. The ball may be spearing towards his feet, but those are no ordinary feet. Those are feet of which even Michael Flatley would be jealous. The feet flutter their owner across the crease.

The ball is pretty much underneath his nose before Lara bothers to move his bat again. You don't think he's given himself enough time to play a shot, but you'd be wrong. The bat whirs through, seemingly only appearing in two places and none of the intervening points - the point where he strikes the ball and then behind his back after the world's biggest follow-through. If you're wondering where the ball is, look between the fielders and then look beyond to the boundary rope. It's somewhere over there.

Some other batsmen and their signature shots

Obdurate Brian Lara shows the way

The West Indies have been rolled over again. King Cricket, Brian Lara, was just about the only batsman showing signs of resistance with 61. Nothing new?

We don't think that the Windies are going to crumble, as you might expect. It might look a familiar scenario for West Indies fans, but we genuinely believe that this side is becoming more competitive. We don't mean that in the way that most people mean it - likely to get beaten by a narrower margin than before. We mean that these players want to compete. They fight. They don't give up.

Mostly these signs have manifested themselves in one-day internationals, but the attitude can't be exclusive to that format. This is a side of increasing belief and resilience. We're putting money (imaginary money, as ever) on a fightback...

Brian Lara's still going

Although not in this innings. He's out for 122, which we think is his first Test hundred in Pakistan. He hasn't played there since his debut in 1990.

Each time Brian Lara scores a hundred we feel elated, but with a soupcon of melancholy. What if this is his last Test hundred? We don't know why we're worrying. He's still the West Indies' best batsman, just as he has been for the last fifteen years. Still, one day he's going to go and it will be a mighty sad day.

The West Indies are still slightly behind with four wickets remaining, as we write. There's one more day to go, so it'll be a tall order to save this Test. Brian Lara has given them the merest glimmer of hope, at least.

Brian Lara: Legend, master, genius

Sporting hyperbole gets devalued over time. The phrase that originally had such bite falls into regular usage and becomes commonplace.

Once upon a time you had to be mythical to be a legend. This was refined in the sporting world and the word came to refer to the greats of yesteryear. More recently, players still plying their trade (or 'art') have been labelled legends. Now all you have to do is hit a resolute thirty and you're a legend in the eyes of the fans.

Enough! It's making it hard to explain the true class of Brian Charles Lara, because here is a batsman who lords it over all others. Today, Brian Lara hit a hundred before lunch - the fifth batsman to do so. Having reached his hundred off only 77 balls, he slowed down, but he's still there on 196 not out, having cut, pulled and driven the Pakistani bowling attack into cowering submission.

Danish Kaneria apparently bowled quite well, but at one point 29 balls to Brian Lara were dispatched for 60 runs, including 26 off one over: The kind of over that divides a great batsman from the rest for longer than just a mere six balls. To think that the other day we were describing the melancholy feeling that came with thinking that each Brian Lara hundred could be the last. He's not finished yet. Not even nearly, judging by his current form.

In light of this softening of the vocabulary of sport, we're struggling to sum this up. We're going to have to revert to more everyday speech. Perhaps that will have more impact in a world where every second cricketer is described in terms that would make Don Bradman blush:

It's very difficult to compare different batsmen, at different times, against different bowling attacks. But insofar as it's possible to do this, Brian Lara has, at times in his career, batted better than just about anyone else has ever batted.

Brian Lara v Australia, 153 not out - 10 Great Innings

There are a number of Brian Lara innings that could be included. Some are quite obvious. You can spot those ones easily enough. They're the ones that have huge numbers after his name. Big, team score kind of numbers. We've taken an alternate route and gone for a less widely-known innings.

To be honest, while Lara's contribution was essential for the West Indies victory in this match, it wasn't a one-man show. At one point in their first innings, the Windies were 98-6 replying to Australia's 490. It wasn't Lara who rescued them then, it was Sherwin Campbell with a hundred and Ridley Jacobs with a stout 68.

They were all out for 329, so they were still bloody miles behind Australia. Then Courtney Walsh took 5-39 and Australia were out for just 146 in their second innings. The West Indies needed 308 to win, but scores had been dwindling as the match wore on with the pitch increasingly difficult to bat on. Australia had selected both Warne and MacGill, so they were very much favourites.

Again West Indies collapsed. At 105-5, Jimmy Adams joined Brian Lara at the crease and in the next hour the pair added just 20 runs. But it got easier. They blunted the pace bowlers, indeed Jason Gillespie had to leave the field injured for a period, then feasted on the spinners. Lara found his feet and if you're bowling at Brian Lara, you'd much prefer him to be footless. He advanced with purpose, moving from 50 to 100 in 51 balls.

Eventually, Glenn McGrath bowled Jimmy Adams. He had contributed 38 to a stand of 133. 238-5 became 248-8 and Lara was left with Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. Two players near the top of everyone's list of great bowlers, but who occupy a similar position in a list of utterly crap batsmen.

The West Indies won. They got home by one wicket.

10 Great Innings

Brian Lara retires

Brian Lara said before the World Cup that he was retiring from one-dayers at the end of the tournament, but it turns out he's retiring from cricket altogether.

This is far too sad an announcement for a Friday. Brian Lara was quite simply one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He's been King Cricket ever since we started this site. Newer readers will think that we're King Cricket, but our original intention was just to honour the current giants of the game. We haven't updated the King Cricket top ten for over a year now, so maybe we should just quietly retire that feature.

Our genuine awe for Brian Lara is perhaps best expressed in the following posts:

Brian Lara's inside-out drive
Brian Lara hits 501 for Warwickshire against Durham
Brian Lara hits a hundred before lunch against Pakistan
Brian Lara hits 153 not out against Australia

Tomorrow will be his final cricket match and we find ourselves in the same position as always: Wanting Lara to hit a hundred and England to win.

It's the last glimpse of that colossal backlift, everybody. Here's hoping he shows everyone else just how shit they are in comparison.

King Cricket: Brian Lara

Brian Lara rocks like Megadeth in a hammock being buffeted by a force 10 gale.

He doesn’t have the average of Tendulkar – this is mainly because he’s had some lean years as well as some years where he’s not played because he’s been sulking.

He’s played in the worst West Indian sides there have ever been and yet he’s scored more Test runs than anyone; he is the only person to have scored 500 in a first class innings; he’s the only person who has scored 400 in a Test innings and he’s the only person to reclaim the top Test score having lost it.

He’s not the most reliable, but do you see Jacques Kallis in this top ten? No-one, but no-one can bat as well as Lara at his best.

Brian Lara. We crown you King Cricket.