On this day in 1999: Brian Lara’s epic 153* leads West Indies to a sensational victory
Brian Lara is regarded among the greatest cricketers to ever play the game. The former West Indies legend amassed over 22,000 runs in international cricket during his 17-year long career. The former cricketer played some memorable knocks in his Test career to help his team in tough situations. On this day i.e. 30th March 1999, Brian Lara smashed 153 runs to help West Indies register a nail-biting win against Australia.
This was the third Test of the Australia tour of West Indies played at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. Australia won the toss in this game and elected to bat first. The visitors scored 490 runs in the first innings with the help of magnificent centuries from Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. Waugh missed out on a double hundred as he got out after scoring 199 runs off 376 balls. Ponting played a fine knock of 104 runs off 290 balls for them which included 10 fours. Nehemiah Perry picked up 3 wickets for 102 runs in his 33 overs.
In response to this total, West Indies got all out for 329 runs and conceded a lead of 161 runs. Their opener Sherwin Campbell smacked a wonderful ton scoring 105 runs off 271 balls with the help of 16 fours. Wicketkeeper-batsman Ridley Jacobs also made a vital contribution of 68 runs off 126 balls. Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie picked up 4 and 3 wickets respectively for the Aussie side. West Indies now needed to restrict visitors to a low total in the third innings to keep their hopes of winning alive.
Though Australia were on the front foot on the back of a good performance in the first innings, they failed to capitalise their lead and got dismissed for 146 runs in their second innings. Courtney Walsh displayed great skills with the ball picking up 5 wickets for 39 runs in his 17.1 overs. West Indies needed to chase 308 runs in the fourth innings to win the Test. At the end of the fourth day, the hosts had scored 85/3 with Adrian Griffith and Brain Lara on the crease.
On the final day, West Indies kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Brian Lara stood tall at one end to fight back for the team. The hopes of a victory diminished with the fall of the eighth wicket at the score of 248 runs. However, Lara stitched a fifty-run partnership with Curtly Ambrose to ensure 1 wicket victory in the end.
