No Spin: My Autobiography

West Indies 1999. We’re 2-1 down after three Tests. Won the first easy, lost the next couple to Brian Lara; two incredible innings. I know he rates the first of them, the double hundred in Jamaica, as the best because of the pressure he was under. West Indies cricket was struggling, Brian was getting stabbed for his captaincy, the press and public were on the players’ case, and then we go and win the first Test in Trinidad by a mile, bowling them out for 51 in the second dig. Whoa! That’s heavy duty. Just about everyone wanted Brian’s head and they were probably only a game away from getting it.

His response was to make that double century in Jamaica and then a wonderful 153 not out in the fourth-innings run chase in Barbados. I never thought anyone could bat better than he did at Sydney in 1992 when we saw him for the first time and he made 277. Given everything, though, I reckon his innings in Jamaica and Barbados in 1999 are the best two I’ve seen. It’s a tight call with Sachin in India the previous year, but because of that pressure and the fact that he didn’t have a great side around him, I’d probably give Brian the nod.

Anyway, we were 2–1 down. I was vice-captain and bowling pretty ordinary and Tugga opened the selection By: Shane Warne with Mark Nicholas

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Pages: 411

Published in India by: Penguin Random House

DROPPED