Date-stamped : 14 Jun94 - 18:26 Record-breaking batsman Lara says he still has much to learn By Ian Haysom Lara's theme is being heard from Trinidad to London, from Sydney to - yes - Vancouver. Anywhere cricket is played. Brian Lara, the diminutive, modest West Indian who in April scored a record 375 in a Test Match against England, this week made the highest score in the history of first-class cricket: 501, not out, against Durham. Playing for his new county of Warwickshire -- which can't believe its luck in signing the run-machine to a two-year contract -- he broke record after record on his way to beating the previous mark of 499 by Hanif Mohammad in Karachi in 1959. The third best mark, 452 not out, is held by the immortal Donald Bradman for New South Wales against Queensland at Sydney in the 1929-30 season. Cricket records usually belong to the distant past. No more. Fleet Street went wild. The Guardian , in a glowing editorial, said: "Cricket is living in a new Golden Age and its immortal is Brian Lara." BBC Radio went to Mohammad soon after his long record had been broken. He said he felt the mark was in danger after Lara beat Gary Sobers's 36-year Test mark: "It's all in Lara's height, I believe," said Mohammad of the 5 ft. 6-in. batsman. "He's very short and many other short Test players have scored lots of runs, like me, Sir Don Bradman and Len Hutton." Lara's scoring ability may have more to do, however, with two things: his impeccable timing as a batsman and his love of the one-day game, which he believes has given him an attacking ap- proach, even in the longer Test matches: "I don't go out to cons- ciously entertain," he said earlier this year. "But I love to at- tack." This week's Edgbaston innings demolished a number of records in- cluding: first batsman to make seven centuries in eight innings; fewest innings to reach 1,000 runs in a season; highest score in a day's play; the record for most boundaries in an innings -- 62-4s and 10-6s -- his 72 eclipsing the 1904 mark of 68 by Percy Perrin of Essex. Lara's county average now stands at an unprecedented 235. For all that, Lara and others concede the innings wasn't one of his best. He was bowled early in the innings on a no-ball, and allowed to continue. He was dropped once at 18 and gave Durham fielders two chances in the 300s that should have meant a trip back to the dressing room. But great batsmen get great luck, and Lara -- at 25 -- is proving himself one of the greatest, and most exciting, in the history of the game. What may be his best innings so far was his 277 against Australia at Sydney last year. His domination of the Australian bowling showed a certain ruthlessness and concentration that only the great batsmen -- from Bradman to Walter Hammond to Sobers -- pos- sess. Lara was run out in that innings, but believes he could have broken Sobers' mark in Sydney the way he was playing. Few would disagree, including Sobers who called it the best innings he had ever seen. Lara, one of 11 children who admits to homesickness for his na- tive Trinidad, is a modest hero: "I still don't think this 500 makes me a great cricketer," he told reporters after the eight- hour innings. "I've still much to learn." Confidence and self belief on the pitch are not a problem with the elfin genius, however. The left-hander plays with heart and soul, with the perfect batting touch. Even defensive strokes skid to the boundary. Current England captain Mike Atherton calls him an opposing captain's worst nightmare. Little wonder: Most of Lara's runs this season have come at the expense of English bowlers, which also speaks volumes. (Extracted from a Vancouver Sun article) Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu)