BRIAN LARA INTERVIEW: The cricket legend reveals why he believes his Test and first-class records could be broken... and what the West Indies must do to beat England

When it comes to heavyweight batting, the diminutive genius that is Brian Lara is unified world champion, clutching the titles for highest Test and first-class scores like precious antiques.

Even in the Bazball era, and a week after a Promethean effort saw Glamorgan fall at the line in a 593 chase at Cheltenham, the numbers appear otherworldly. Yet Lara expects neither to remain in an exclusive club of one when it comes to Test cricket’s quadruple centurions nor the famous 501 made here for Warwickshire 30 years ago to last.

Sat with his back to the Edgbaston turf where he flayed Durham’s weary attack for eight hours in early June 1994, he explains to Mail Sport that the pace of the modern game is behind his rationale.

‘I was always sort of puzzled that Sir Garfield Sobers' record wasn't broken in the 1970s and 80s, when you had the aggression of Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards,’ he says.

‘There were players in my time who challenged, or at least went past the 300 mark - Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sanath Jayasuriya. They were pretty much aggressive players. How many aggressive players do you have playing today? Especially in the England team. Zak Crawley and Harry Brook. Maybe in the Indian team? Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill. If they find the right situation, the records could be broken - both of them.’

Lara addresses his insatiable appetite for not only runs but gargantuan innings in his new book, aptly titled: The England Chronicles. It charts how one of 11 siblings who played on the streets of Trinidad with a hard orange or lime for a ball and a bat made from the branch of a coconut tree took over from Richards in West Indies’ batting dynasty, making English bowlers his preferred victims.

Six weeks prior to that County Championship innings in Birmingham, he’d supplanted Sobers’ 365, a score that had stood at no 1 in Test cricket’s charts for 36 years. His 375 at the Rec in Antigua won him the BBC’s overseas sports personality of the year award - placing him alongside previous winners Pele and Muhammad Ali as someone whose performances transcended their own sphere.

Lara gold-plated iconic status in April 2004 when, back in Antigua, he reclaimed the Test record - Australia’s Matthew Hayden held it for six months - with a majestic 400 not out against a Michael Vaughan team 3-0 up in the series.

According to the 55-year-old, the history with colonial England, provided ‘more pep in your step.’

He takes up the story: ‘I loved playing against England. I went to Pakistan in 1990, but my first full tour away from home was the five-Test series here in 1991. I learned a lot on that tour. Wearing the sweater, West Indians mixing with the English crowds at Lord's and the Oval - these things meant a lot to me.

‘I understood from reading and listening to all the folks what cricket meant to people of the Caribbean and I became a sponge, started to understand what these giants of the past were all about. I wanted to be a part of them.’

Lara’s wondrous strokeplay - of Test cricket’s top 20 run scorers, his strike rate of 60.51 is comfortably the best - came during a period of general decline for the former undisputed kings of the sport, but that only emphasises the extraordinary nature of his work in the middle.

‘Sometimes people look at my numbers and think 'that seems to be an individual achievement,' or 'that seems to be a selfish achievement,' and I laugh at them, because the one thing that always motivated me was playing for the West Indies, or West Indies being in a critical situation and I having to go there and do well,’ he says.

His relationship with monster scores began in 1993 in Sydney, a spinning graveyard for West Indies on two previous tours. Combatting the turn of Shane Warne and Greg Matthews, he swelled his maiden Test century to 277.

The effects of the innings were multifarious: a draw kept Australia’s lead at 1-0, West Indies won the final two Tests to complete a series win and Lara ‘fell in love with scoring big.’

He continues: ‘I fell in love with being that spectacle, reducing the opposition's options, seeing them pretty much flat. I made that my forte - when I knew a team was down, I wasn't going to give it away. I was going to take advantage of the situation. That was 375, 400, 501.

‘It was very similar attitude to that of West Indies’ great bowlers. When you have a red ball in your hand and are bowling at 90 miles an hour, you know guys are going to be scared.

‘So, the first thing you do is intimidate them because then you feel you can get them out easier. Similar with the bat. You get into a position where you're on top of them and you carry on. From that match in Sydney, I felt whenever I went out to bat, it was not about 50, or 100. It wasn't 150. it was 'til the cows come home or the captain wants to declare.’

Integral to doing just that, Lara says, was a refusal to let his intensity drop. ‘During no part of my stay in the middle was I switching off or thinking about anything else. I might be at the non striker's end, but I’d be looking at the bowler’s bounce and pace, so I had a full-on plan of how I was going to go about batting session by session,’ he explains.

‘Yes, I'm going to look into the crowd. Yes, I'm going to smile at someone, but to play every ball on its merits you have to be fully switched on. Not switching on and off. They tell you if you switch your phone off, it burns more battery when you switch it back on, right. So, keep it on!’

It is a reflection that leads to a wonderful anecdote about his 375 against Mike Atherton’s 1994 England team.

Lara reached the close on day two on 320, needing a further 46 to break Sobers' record. St John’s was a buzz.

‘I couldn't sleep. I found myself between four and five o'clock in the morning pretty much with my eyebrows stuck to my forehead. I knew I needed to try to burn some energy, do something different,’ he recalls.

Something different was nine holes of golf before returning to the crease. This current England team, of which he is a huge fan, would surely approve.

‘I love the way they're playing the game. I try to watch them a lot and I actually think that the approach by some opposing teams against England gets too defensive too quickly,’ he says, ahead of today’s first Test at Lord’s.

‘Be aggressive. Face aggression with aggression. I'm hoping that the West Indies don't back off and if they do find themselves in a spot of trouble, find a way to counter attack.

‘West Indies have got to understand that the first four batters of England are going to come out with a totally different approach to that of Australia earlier this year (where the tourists pulled off a shock win in Brisbane).

‘You expect the Australians with Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne to score at a maximum three runs an over, setting the stage for for a Travis Head later.

‘England have a totally different approach. They’re looking to be 100 runs plus in the first session.

‘Yes, we do have the ammunition. The bowling attack is young but quietly very, very dangerous with guys like Jayden Seales, Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph.

‘But if West Indies is going to be successful against England, they've got to win the first day of the Test match, whether it be with bat or ball. Lose it, and it's very difficult to come back against a team that plays in that kind of attacking nature.’

LARA: The England Chronicles is available to buy for £20.00 + p&p (standard price £25.00 + p&p) at thenightwatchman.net. Use coupon code LARA1 when placing your order.