Brilliant Lara stands alone for West Indies

West Indies 281 for 6 (Lara 159*, Browne 19*) v South Africa
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

At the start of this series, there were doubts as to whether Brian Lara would ever play another Test match, as the brouhaha between Cable & Wireless and Digicel reached its crescendo. Today at Trinidad, in front of his home fans, Lara achieved redemption in the manner that only he can, blazing his way to a glorious hundred in his first first-class innings since the tour of England last August.

By the close, the majesty of Lara's performance had been magnified by the shortcomings of his team-mates. Though he himself reached the close on 159 not out, from 236 balls and crowned by 20 thrilling fours, not a single other batsman made more than 35. Thanks to the efforts of Makhaya Ntini with the new ball, and Andre Nel with the old, South Africa chipped away for six wickets, and remained very much in the hunt.

Lara had played in just seven one-day internationals since the start of the year, and after the run-feast that a second-string West Indies side served up at Georgetown last week, a lesser mortal might have felt slightly cowed by the weight of expectation on his shoulders, especially when Ntini had reduced West Indies to 14 for 2 after just half-an-hour of the day. Two of Lara's fellow contract rebels, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, had betrayed their lack of match practice with two ill-disciplined strokes, and a third such dismissal would in all probability have opened the floodgates.

But there was never any suggestion that Lara would be feeling his way back to form. In the absence of Shaun Pollock, South Africa's one genuine world-class bowler, the weak links in the South African attack were manifest, and Lara set out to exploit them to the full. Monde Zondeki, whose last Test outing had gleaned six Zimbabwean wickets for 39, was taught a harsh lesson in how to take on a master batsman, while Lara was equally emphatic against the spin of Nicky Boje and the lacklustre pace of Jacques Kallis.

He brought up his century by pulling Zondeki for two runs through deep midwicket, and a Trinidad crowd that had steadily grown as word of his derring-do spread erupted in the knowledge that he had overhauled the great Garry Sobers to become West Indies' leading centurymaker. He now has 27 hundreds to his name, which leaves him someway short of Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar (34), but in this innings he has overhauled both men to become the third-highest run-scorer in Test history.

Though the opposition was by no means in the same class, the context and quality of his innings was reminiscent of his solo stands against the Australians six seasons ago - the indisputable apex of his career. Then as now, the secret of his success was the partnerships that he was able to form, and in Wavell Hinds, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Courtney Browne, he found three sidekicks who played a fine second-fiddle at crucial stages of the innings.

For Hinds and Chanderpaul, it was an emphatic comedown from their heady double-centuries at Georgetown. Hinds was especially watchful - at Bourda he had slapped 34 fours and two sixes in his career-best 213 - but today he knew his role and played it almost to perfection, lasting for 110 deadpan deliveries until Ntini returned to the attack to find his outside edge (108 for 3).

For the first half of the day, Ntini had been a lone threat in the South African attack. Nel's first spell had been short and very wide, while Lara had allowed none of the back-up bowlers to settle. But when Chanderpaul's composed performance came to a tame end, as he chipped a return catch straight to Boje, South Africa were invigorated. Nel bounded in for a teasing spell of reverse-swing bowling, Donovan Pagon and Dwayne Bravo were both bowled for the addition of 21 runs, and West Indies were in serious danger of squandering all Lara's good efforts.

Nel, whose snarling followthroughs had looked decidedly sheepish in the early part of his performance, suddenly found a second wind, and when Lara was beaten all ends up twice in two balls - a tight lbw shout followed by a fence outside off - Nel punched the air in frustration. But Browne dug in for a vital unbeaten 19, saw off the increasing vagaries in the pitch, and ensured that it was West Indies who reached the close in a position that Lara's efforts had merited.

Chris Gayle c Boucher b Ntini 6 (7 for 1)
Indisciplined swish, steepling edge to keeper

Ramnaresh Sarwan c Nel b Ntini 5 (13 for 2)
Flapped bouncer to deep fine leg

Wavell Hinds c Smith b Ntini 32 (108 for 3)
Squirted drive to first slip

Shivnarine Chanderpaul c&b Boje 35 (203 for 4)
Suckered by flighted delivery, simple return catch

Donovan Pagon b Ntini 0 (204 for 5)
Played all round straight delivery

Dwayne Bravo b Nel 5 (225 for 6)
Reverse swing, inside-edge onto leg stump