Brian Lara

Brian Lara, the left-hander from Santa Cruz in Trinidad, turned scoreboards into spectacle. With a high backlift and wonderfully flexible wrists, he was the most gifted batsman of his generation, and the longer the format the greater his appetite. His 375 against England in Antigua in 1994 broke the world Test record, and when Matthew Hayden took it from him, Lara answered in 2004 with 400 not out on the same ground, the only quadruple century in Test history. Add the record first-class score of 501 not out, made for Warwickshire that same 1994 summer, and the case makes itself.

The darker side of his genius was a fraught relationship with West Indies cricket. His spells as captain coincided with the decline of a once-mighty team, and contract disputes and administrative chaos followed him through the late 1990s. Yet the batting kept delivering: his unbeaten 153 to beat Australia in Bridgetown in 1999 still ranks among the greatest chases ever played. He retired in 2007 as the leading run-scorer in West Indies history, and for a time the leading run-scorer in all Test cricket. Few batsmen have ever combined such destructive power with such delicate timing.