Cricket: Lara the legend sure to stand the test of time

So the Prince becomes a King. Brian Lara's coronation was completed at the Adelaide Oval, where he passed one of Australia's favourite sons - Allan Border's world record run-scoring aggregate of 11,174 runs.

In doing so, he mercilessly flayed the Australian bowlers for 226 - unbelievably, the eighth time he has passed 200 in a test innings. Only Donald Bradman has achieved the feat more often.

He arrived to a standing ovation on Friday - it is the last time he will play a test in Australia - and left to one yesterday. It's appropriate he passed the record in Australia, the opposition that's most defined his career.

He has played them 31 times, more than he has played any other country. He has scored nine centuries against them, more than against any other opposition.

He got the ball rolling at Sydney Cricket Ground in 1993, when he turned his debut test century into a celebration of batsmanship with 277 on a damp and turning wicket.

At that stage, nobody was certain whether he would turn his undoubted hand-eye coordination into a prolific career. His astonishingly high backlift, that he has never modified, and habit of playing with hands away from the body, looked likely to gather him in quick runs in familiar conditions but looked fatally flawed in conditions where the ball moved around.

He's defied that, scoring runs everywhere he's been - and the boundary he took off Glenn McGrath to break the record was an un-textbook-like hop across the off, exposing his stumps, before lapping the ball to deep backward square.

"He's a product of his conditioning," Martin Crowe said. "He's grown up on Caribbean beaches with the high tennis-ball bounce."

Lara's genius, he said, was to be able to refine that technique to be successful, even in places like New Zealand where you have to be more compact to deal with the ball that 'squats' or does a bit off the seam.

"He is just a freaky player," Crowe said.

No more freakier than in 1999 when he scored three brilliant centuries against the Australians in a series in the West Indies, single-handedly dragging his flagging team to a series draw.

Ironically, Lara's rise has mirrored the West Indies' descent into a second-rate test side. It's obviously not his fault, although it is clear he shares little warmth with his team-mates - a fact illustrated by former wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs' stinging assessment of his worth, or lack of, in the dressing room.

"He can't afford to be selfish. With this captain, it is not for the love of the game any more, it's for him," Jacobs said.

Lara is no longer captain, handing over to the equally ineffective Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but he still comes in for harsh criticism that he could do more for the younger players trying to emulate him.

That's something he will reflect upon later, no doubt. For now he should be basking in the glory of a job well done.

Of the 'modern' batsmen, Crowe puts him in a bunch of four, along with Sachin Tendulkar who, if injury-free, will one day pass Lara's total, Greg Chappell and Viv Richards.

He only got to play against Lara once, however, in a World Cup match in 1991 at Eden Park.

"He scored a lovely half-century and was the only player at the tournament that got to Gavin Larsen. He's a genius."

The genius will be glad his coronation took place at the Adelaide Oval, too - one of the world's signature grounds in front of Australia's most knowledgeable crowd.

The saddest aspect of Border moving beyond Sunil Gavaskar's total was the fact he did it at a near-empty Lancaster Park. Lara's next test will be at Eden Park, a ground that often has similar characteristics.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY