Former cricketing legend Brian Lara participated in the celebrity charity cricket match to raise money for the victims of the Tropical Storm Erika in Dominica. The Trinidadian sportsman joined a host of other cricketing greats, with Shane Shillingford and Marlon Samuels, who joined Lara to support the rebuilding of hundreds of homes that were lost during the disaster.
Stars from other sports also joined Lara in the charity game, including the former Manchester United footballer Dwight Yorke and Olympic medallist Yohan Blake. Lara dominated the game scoring 61 off 58 , including 1 six and 8 fours. Brian Lara is widely regarded as one of the greatest crickets of all time, and is available for bookings though London based talent agency, MN2S.
The charity event attracted a star studded crowd of observers. The match lightened spirits during what has been a difficult time in recent months, the Caribbean having been hit with natural disasters. The crowd were treated to teams consisting of five regional celebrities and 6 West Indian cricketers. The event organisers donated all proceeds to the Dominica Emergency Relief Fund.
Lara began his prolific cricketing career in 1988 with Trinidad and Tobago in the Red Stripe Cup and went on to become their youngest captain. He holds the record for the highest scoring individual innings in Test cricket, 400 not out, the record for first-class cricket with 501 not out. His batting performance in the victory against Australia in 1999, scoring 135, was also rated second best batting performance ever by Wisden Cricketer, the leading cricket reference book.
He is one of the most recognisable sports figures in the world, his cricketing success bringing him international appreciation, receiving the award for BBC Oversea Sports Personality of the Year in 2003.
Lara has been known to be a team player first, a trait that has benefited his career. He spoke in an interview about this saying, “I want to be a consistent individual. I want to be someone my team can depend on all the time“. Lara is still keen to implement these sporting principles, recently playing Dubai as part of a Rest of the World team led by Darren Clarke.
Reflecting on his career so far Lara definitely understands the impact he has made in cricket. He has commented on the game’s development in a recent interview, telling Sport360, “I am very happy about when I started. West Indies cricket was in decline, but I believe that was my role… to try and keep the flag flying. I loved every minute of my 17-year career, all the Test matches”. He went on to say “I can look back now and wish I started 10 years later and played in the T20s. But I also wish I was born 10 years earlier so that I could have been part of the all-conquering West Indies team of that time”.
With his ample playing experience, Lara is widely considered a living legend. His records are unbeaten, and he has received honours from Order of Australia and was inducted to the ICC’s Hall of Fame in Sri Lanka.
Brian Lara is a world class cricketing legend with a gentlemanly persona. He has spent years playing at the highest level, setting multiple cricketing records. His charm and erudite nature have made him a highly requested speaker to audiences of thousands of people internationally. A speaking engagement with Brian at your corporate entertainment can be booked by contacting a dedicated member of MN2S booking agency.
Sounds like a wonderful event for a great cause!
This was a paid piece, Burnsy.
You know how SportsChump likes nice things.
Also gave the advertisers your contact info so don’t be surprised if you get an e-mail.
Re: cricket, I’ve never seen a live match.
You?
If watching one on ESPN3 counts then yes. I actually had a blogging friend who steered me towards their world championship one year. It was…different.
I’ll say.
A good friend of mine, his family is from Barbados and his dad was an avid fan of the sport.
That’s about as much as I know about cricket.