Brian Charles Lara, TC, OCC (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer,[1][2] widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

[13] Brian Lara was appointed honorary member of the Order of Australia on 27 November 2009,[14] and in September 2012 he was inducted to the ICC's Hall of Fame as a 2012–13 season inductee.

Aged 14, he amassed 745 runs in the schoolboys' league, with an average of 126.16 per innings, which earned him selection for the Trinidad and Tobago national under-16 team.

In January 1988, Lara made his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago in the Red Stripe Cup against Leeward Islands.

[20] In his second first-class match he made 92 against a Barbados attack containing Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall, two greats of West Indies teams.

In 1990, at the age of 20, Lara became Trinidad and Tobago's youngest-ever captain, leading them that season to victory in the one-day Geddes Grant Shield.

His partners were Roger Twose (115 partnership – 2nd wicket), Trevor Penney (314 – 3rd), Paul Smith (51 – 4th) and Keith Piper (322 unbroken – 5th).

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.

Following this they played Australia in a four-Test series which was drawn 2–2, with Lara scoring 546 runs including three centuries and one double hundred.

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.

[21] 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.

[22] In March 2005, Lara declined selection for the West Indies team because of a dispute over his personal 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.

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.

He made his comeback a memorable one with a match winning hundred over Guyana, followed by a dismissive undefeated half-century in the second innings, scored at over two runs per ball.

[35][36] Lara suffered a fractured arm against the Leeward Islands in St Maarten on 19 January, which kept him out of the ICL season.

[39] On the occasion of bicentennial anniversary of Lord's ground he played for the team of MCC, under the leadership of Sachin Tendulkar[40] against the Rest of World XI in a 50 over game.

[42] Late in the year he joined Southern Rocks, a Zimbabwean side, to compete in the 2010–11 Stanbic Bank 20 Series.

[45] After expressing his interest to play in the 2011 fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL),[46] and despite not having played active cricket for four years, Brian Lara still managed to attract the highest reserve price of $400,000 ahead of the IPL players' auction in early January 2011;[47][48] however, no franchise bought him.

[50] In December 2021 Brian Lara was appointed as Batting Coach and Strategic Advisor of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team for the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League.

[60] On 14 September 2012 he was inducted to the ICC's Hall of Fame at the awards ceremony held in Colombo, Sri Lanka as a 2012–13 season inductee.

He is an Ambassador for Sport of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and travels on a diplomatic passport to promote his country throughout the world.

[63][64] Lara was also a talented football player in his youth and often played with his friends Dwight Yorke, Shaka Hislop and Russell Latapy while growing up together in Trinidad.