“Still doesn’t look real”: Stuart Broad all praise for Brian Lara on his 501 not out anniversary

Stuart Broad all praise for Brian Lara: The veteran English pacer was wax lyrical about the former West Indian captain’s record feat.

It was on this day in 1994 that former West Indies captain Brian Lara had scored a record-breaking 501* (427) for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston.

Lara, all of 25 with a 16-match experience in Test cricket at the time, had become the ninth batter to score a quadruple century in first-class cricket. Lara, who later became only the second batter to score two quadruple centuries in first-class cricket, remains the only one to have crossed the 500-run mark even after 28 years.

The fact that no other batter has managed to score a quadruple century since Lara’s 501* speaks highly about the importance and extent of the milestone especially among batters who have played the sport in the last three decades or so.

Stuart Broad all praise for Brian Lara on his 501* anniversary

Veteran England pacer Stuart Broad took to social media platform Twitter to appreciate Lara’s efforts from back in the day. Retweeting a video celebrating Lara’s 501* on its 28th anniversary, Broad admitted to still not believing a batter scoring 500 runs in an innings. Calling him as an “absolute hero”, 35-year old Broad expressed love for Lara’s batting.

Lara, who has just finished his stint as Strategic Advisor and Batting Coach at Sunrisers Hyderabad in Indian Premier League 2022, also received applauds from the franchise.

Lara, who hit 62 fours and 10 sixes at a strike rate of 117.33, returned to the pavilion after achieving the milestone in a drawn match in Birmingham.