Brian Lara

Few batters in the sport's history have paired such natural elegance with such a hunger for massive scores as Brian Lara. A left-hander with a flourishing high backlift, he could occupy the crease for entire days without tiring of scoring runs. What set him apart wasn't just reaching cricket's biggest individual milestones, but reaching them more than once, cementing a reputation as one of the finest batters the game has ever produced.

Hailing from Trinidad, Lara made his Test debut against Pakistan in December 1990. His first major breakthrough came in January 1993, when a maiden Test century of 277 against Australia in Sydney became a landmark in more ways than one. He later named his daughter Sydney in its honour. The innings arrived at a time when West Indies cricket, coming off Viv Richards' retirement, badly needed a new standard-bearer. Lara stepped into that role almost immediately.

The following year brought two of the most extraordinary months any batter has ever had. A Test score of 375 against England in Antigua broke a record Garfield Sobers had held for 36 years. Just weeks later, an innings of 501 not out for county side Warwickshire against Durham set a new record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket. Those twin records made him a genuine global phenomenon, earning him Trinidad and Tobago's highest national honour, the Trinity Cross, that same year, along with back-to-back Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World awards in 1994 and 1995.

His career was never short of turbulence to match the brilliance. A first stint as West Indies captain in the late 1990s was one he himself later described as a story of "modest success and devastating failure." Even through that rocky spell, his batting stayed extraordinary, none more so than during a series against Australia where he almost single-handedly kept his side competitive. A subsequent loss of form was eventually reversed after Sobers suggested an adjustment to his backlift, and Lara answered with one of the most dominant series any batter has produced, against Sri Lanka in 2001-02.

Handed the captaincy again in 2003, he went on to lead West Indies to victory in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. Later that year, with England threatening to complete a home whitewash, Lara responded with an unbeaten 400 in the deciding Test. The innings set a new record for the highest individual score in Test cricket and made him the only player to reclaim the world Test record twice. He went on to become Test cricket's leading run-scorer in 2005, a distinction he held until Sachin Tendulkar surpassed him in 2008. He stepped down as captain for the final time in 2006 amid a dispute between the West Indies board and the players' association.

Even in the closing stages of his career, the big scores kept coming, and he retired following the 2007 World Cup, hosted in the Caribbean. He finished with 11,953 Test runs from 131 matches at an average of 52.88. He also scored 10,405 ODI runs and 53 international centuries across the two formats. His standing in the game was later recognised with induction into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and Honorary Life Membership of the MCC. He also joined Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne among the cricketers to have won the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award.