ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, 13 April 2004 — On April 18, 1994 Brian Lara, at the age of 24, produced one of the greatest innings in Test cricket. The 375 runs the Trinidadian scored against England on this ground allowed him to break Sir Garfield Sobers’ world record. It turned him into a superstar and changed his life.

Yesterday, six days away from the 10th anniversary of that achievement, Lara produced an innings of even greater brilliance. At the age of 34 the left-hander reclaimed his world record, which had been pinched off him by the Australian opener Matthew Hayden six months earlier, and became the first player in Test cricket to score 400.

Reaching this figure brought the crowd to their feet again but it was the sweep for four off Gareth Batty which took Lara past Hayden’s score of 380 that gave him the greatest pleasure. Off came the helmet and back went the head as he looked to the heavens and gave thanks.

In 1994, the feat was followed by several thousand ecstatic fans invading the pitch. Security prevented all but two running on to the field this time, allowing Lara to cherish the moment. The Antigua prime minister came on and congratulated him and this was followed by Lara acknowledging every section of the crowd. As in 1994 he knelt down and kissed the pitch, then got on with pushing his side toward the 750 they wanted.

Lunch was taken, and after reaching 400 Lara declared the West Indies first innings closed. Their total of 751 for 5 is the second highest score posted by the West Indies. It is also the highest total conceded by England, and left Michael Vaughan’s side requiring 552 to avoid the follow-on. By tea they had made a poor start. Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick were caught behind by the hosts’ other centurion, the wicketkeeper, Ridley Jacobs, and England went to tea on 48 for 2.

To play one innings of such magnitude is enough to put you high in the list of all-time greats but to produce two is one of the most remarkable achievements in sport. Reclaiming his record was nothing like, say, a triple-jumper running down a track for five seconds and leaping one centimeter further than a rival. Lara spent 773 minutes concentrating under a scorching sun against an attack which had dominated him for the previous month.

To bat for so long twice in a career takes enormous skill and stamina, and an unbelievable amount of desire and control. This is why this innings was in many ways better than 10 years ago. After Lara scored his 375 here, I felt he would never be able to play an innings of such perfection again. My reasoning was not based on the fact that Lara was not good enough to post a similar score. I felt that if he was ever in a position to score such a volume of runs again he would attempt to get there quicker than before and this would lead to him making a fatal mistake somewhere along the way.

How wrong I was. It took Lara 546 balls to pass Hayden’s score of 380, 16 more than when he first broke the record.

Lara is a different animal to a decade ago. Dealing with agents, the world’s media and the thousands of people who constantly want a piece of his time matured him quickly and toughened him up. There was a spell in the mid-1990s when all this attention turned him into an arrogant, unpopular character.

But with time he has mellowed. The expectations that come with being captain and the best player in an under-performing team are still there, but the mature Lara appears to handle the pressures better and has returned to the laughing and likable bloke he was.

Before this series Lara said he felt in better form than in 1994 but the following three Tests did not back up this claim. Some even suggested he was a declining force. This innings may have changed their view.

Lara began the third day needing 68 runs to overtake Hayden. With the third new ball only four overs away Lara decided to make the most of the less than testing fare being tossed up by Gareth Batty and Trescothick, adding 12 to his overnight 313.

This early flurry, which also saw Jacobs hit the medium pace of Trescothick back over his head for six, was followed by a long period of consolidation. Stephen Harmison bowled with pace and extracted occasional steep bounce from a pitch which appears to be getting quicker.

With Matthew Hoggard off the field due to illness, Andrew Flintoff took the new ball with Harmison. They attempted to frustrate Lara and Jacobs by banging the ball in short with a deep square-leg waiting for the top-edge hook.

The batsmen decided not to take on the shot, which caused problems.

England’s fielders went up for a catch when one such delivery clipped something on the way through to Geraint Jones — what a game to make your debut in — but replays showed it had touched Lara’s shoulder.

The locals became animated by England’s tactics but Lara kept picking up easy runs and ticking off milestones. It was this period which emphasized his desire to head the list again. Jacobs was playing some booming shots and having fun. It would have been easy for Lara to adopt the same approach, but with the field set deep the boundaries were cut off and he mostly advanced in singles.

The introduction of Simon Jones brought a brief rush of runs until he was replaced by Harmison.

The Durham man bowled one over before he was disqualified from bowling again in the innings after running down the pitch on his follow-through for the third time.

This signaled the end of Harmison’s tour. It was not the most glamorous ways of signing off, but with 23 wickets he has much to feel proud of.