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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007>Will Brian Lara break the curse of the host in the World Cup? 02nd Mar 2007 23.59 IST By Manish Kumar No host team has ever won a World Cup in history. West Indian batting genius Brian Lara has one and only chance to break the curse of the host. As the West Indies gear up to host the quadrennial extravaganza for the first time, Lara has the chance to make history in what will be his last hurrah at the World Cup.
Lara, as captain, holds the reins of the West Indian cricket fortunes and is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen ever. Lara holds several world records for high scoring. He has the highest individual score in both first-class cricket (501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994) and Test cricket (400 not out for the West Indies against England in 2004). He also holds the record for the highest total number of runs in a Test career, after overtaking Allan Border in November 2005. He is the only man to have reclaimed the Test record score, having scored 375 against England in 1994, a record that stood until Matthew Lawrence Hayden 's 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003. His 400 not out also made him the second player after Don Bradman to score two Test triple-centuries, and the second after Bill Ponsford to score two first-class quadruple-centuries. He has scored nine double centuries in Test cricket, second only to Bradman's twelve. Lara, along with Sachin Tendulkar , is the only batsman in the world to have scored more than 10,000 runs in both forms of the game. He is the all-time leading run scorer in Test cricket, a record he attained on 26 November 2005. In the same innings, he became the second batsman to score 1000 Test runs in five different years, four days after Hayden first set the record. He was the fastest batsman to score 10,000 (with Tendulkar) and 11,000 Test runs, in terms of number of innings. Lara's leadership in the five-match one-day home series against India came in for much praise as the tourists were knocked over 4-1. The West Indies have one of the most of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket in Christopher Henry Gayle , who is the fourth West Indian to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year and along with Sanath Teran Jayasuriya and Lara, is the only player in ODI history to have three or more scores of 150. Gayle was named Player of the 2006 Champions Trophy, where West Indies nearly defended their title won in 2004, only to be defeated in the final by Australia. Gayle scored three centuries and totalled 474 runs, 150 more than any other batsman, and also took eight wickets in as many matches. The left-handed Shivnarine Chanderpaul is known for his doggedness and ability to stick on the wicket for long hours, but despite his reputation as a dogged batsman, he has also made the third fastest century in Test cricket, reaching three figures in just 67 balls at the GCC Ground Bourda, Guyana, in the 2002-03 series against Australia. Chanderpaul has recently reached the milestone of 100 Test caps, the 8th West Indian to do so and the first of East Indian descent. Ramnaresh Ronnie Sarwan on June 23, 2006 while playing against India hit six fours in an over by Munaf Patel and emulated Sandeep Patil (off Bob Willis, seven balls) and Gayle (off Matthew Hoggard, six balls) playing at Warner Park. Sarwan playing a big hand in helping the West Indies reach the finals of the NatWest Series in 2004 and then winning the ICC Champions Trophy in the same year. Marlon Samuels scored his maiden, and so far only Test hundred at Kolkata against India in 2002-03. His innings of 104 helped the West Indies to draw the third Test and was made against the likes of Javagal Srinath , Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh . His first ODI ton came in the series, which followed and turned out to be a series winning innings. With the series level at 3-3 going into the final match at Vijayawada on November 24, 2002, Samuels smacked 108 not out off just 75 balls. The West Indies finished with 315 and went on to win by 135 runs. Dwayne Bravo has become one of the West Indies' more reliable one-day bowlers, able to contain batsman towards the end of the innings. He also played brilliantly in the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 & was instrumental in his team's big Wins over Australia and India. Even though his side lost to England in a tense but inconsequential match, he made his First Ever ODI Century & scored a majestic 115 Not out & carried his bat throughout the West Indian innings after coming in at 35/1 with Chanderpaul gone. He also fielded very well & got a wicket in that loss to England. A hard hitter of the ball with a Test strike rate near 70, Dwayne Smith made a run-a-ball 105 not out on Test debut against South Africa in 2003–04, but has failed to make a half-century since, with his second-highest Test score of 42 coming against the bottom-ranked Bangladesh. In one-day cricket, Smith has contributed with 474 runs at a batting average of just under 20, but his strike rate is nearly 100 and he has taken eleven wickets with his medium pace, including the scalps of Graeme Smith , Mahela de Silva Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan. He also has two one-day half-centuries, making him a useful all-rounder. The West Indies’ pace spearhead is Jerome Taylor , who established himself in the ODI side with wickets during 2006, and was West Indies' leading wicket-taker during the DLF Cup in Malaysia, with eight wickets. He was selected for the 2006 Champions Trophy and after four wickets in the preliminary games against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, Taylor took a hat-trick in West Indies' opening group game against Australia, becoming the first West Indian to achieve such a feat in an ODI. Corey Collymore’s speciality is seam bowling and his knowledge of putting the ball in the right place and his high work rate are qualities that have been highly sought after in the current West Indian team. His matured approach and accuracy with the ball was shown during India's tour of the West Indies in 2006. Collymore finished with an economy rate of 2.33, a class above the more erratic younger bowlers. With these talented cricketers, Lara hopes to make his last hurrah at the World Cup a special one by breaking the curse of the host. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: West Indies Team Page: Australia | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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