Lara. I first saw him in the early-Nineties. Back then, his batting was slightly different to the image we hold in our minds today; in the early days, he didn’t have the same sort of flourish or the same presence as he would find later on in his career. There was the talent of course, the signs of what was to come, but it took him a while to cement it, and become the dominant force – the Brian Lara, Prince of Trinidad.

We then went to the West Indies in 2003 and in the St Lucia Test, Thilan came on to bowl again. That wicket was not turning, and Brian deposited him about five times over the stand and into the car park, just to tell Thilan, ‘I know what you can do, I’m ready for it this time and this is what I’m going to do’. It was a very strong message. He got another hundred, and batted just beautifully.

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I had quite a few conversations with him later on in his career. One time he’d just opened a new bar and lounge in Trinidad, and I was invited to an evening there. We talked cricket, we talked batting, we talked West Indian cricket. He admitted that sometimes he got frustrated that these talented guys were not transitioning, but he never spoke to me in such a tone as, ‘I did this, why can’t they do that?’ He was just concerned that maybe the boys weren’t being looked after as well as they should be. He was worried by the question of how to get the best players back playing for the West Indies. We spoke about the talent that there was in the islands, and of the need for better first-class cricket, better wickets, better conditions.

I always sensed it was hard to speak to a genius about batting. There are always things that you can pick up on and use, but for them it is so natural, so ingrained in them that it’s very hard for someone else to replicate. When it comes to batting, there’s a lot of yourself in how you approach it. You can get indications and hints, and help and advice, but ultimately you need the ability to sift through all of that and use the few things that can be personalised to your character and your technique.

With Brian, I always used to speak to him about mindset. How he approached conditions, how he looked to score. Most of the time they were simple points that I knew myself, but the way he executed them was very personal, very unique. All of this allowed him to be who he was: one of the greats of all time.