By Jim Morton
November 29th 2009 @ 12:50am
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Tiny Windies teen stands tall as senior players fall
Trinidad teenager Adrian Barath wears braces, stands just at five foot four and looks like he should still be in school.
But the 19-year-old Test debutant stood taller than any of his bigger, more experienced teammates in unleashing a bold 104 as the West Indies went down in a heap at the Gabba.
Barath, first discovered by Brian Lara as an 11-year-old, carved out a piece of history with his stylish counter-attacking knock in the first Test mismatch, becoming the youngest Windies batsman to score a century on debut.
He was a full year younger than the legendary George Headley who was 20 years and 226 days when he scored 176 against England in Barbados in 1930.
Barath also joined India’s little master Sachin Tendulkar as the only teenager in history to notch Test hundreds against Australia.
“It gives me a lot of excitement within myself, a lot of pride, in Trinidad and in West Indies cricketers been around a while,” the quietly-spoken and modest youngster said.
A fierce square drive off Shane Watson — remarkably his 20th boundary in the 138-ball knock, which included just five singles — sent him to 100, and he celebrated in kind.
The tiny right-hander raised his arms in triumph, jumped for joy, hugged vice-captain Denesh Ramdin, and then again fell into his arms.
He lasted just six more balls before Watson trapped him leg before.
But the tourists’ smallest player would have felt as tall as manager Joel Garner with a standing ovation from an appreciative 10,490-strong crowd as he walked off.
While the West Indies were humiliated by an innings and 65 runs, Barath’s fighting display — handling the pace and bounce of the Gabba far better than kingpins Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul — gave the embattled tourists something to smile about.
“A brilliant innings,” rated captain Gayle. “He batted well, showed a lot of character. I wish him many more successes. Hopefully he can focus on going from strength to strength.”
Barath’s idol Lara first discovered him batting in the nets in Port-of-Spain and took him to England to play at 17.
“Brian has played his part in me, given me a lot of support, from my early years, as early as 11 — saw me batting and saw my talent and kept at me,” he said.
“I’m sure he’ll be proud of this achievement. It’s at the beginning, I have a lot ahead of me, just to keep my focus.”
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