Inundated with telephone calls, text messages and faxes hailing his achievement of becoming Test cricket's leading scorer, Brian Lara spoke passionately yesterday about the influences on his cricket career, about his country, his family and his football friends, about his love of and hopes for West Indies cricket, about the impact he hopes his latest record will have on the people of the Caribbean.
He recalled the influence of his late father, Bunty, "my number one".
"He is the person from the time I was six or seven, sort of lived vicariously through me," he said. "I don't know what he saw in me at that age, but he was there for me.
"On many occasions we would be unhappy with each other and I thought I would head off to cricket by myself. But then I would look under the palm tree and I would see him. He would be there for every match that I played."
Lara senior died in 1989, during the Indian series when Lara was 12th man, so he never saw his son play Test cricket.
"I know that he is looking down and he is very happy today, knowing that I've again achieved something for the country, for the family and for the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies."
He also praised the inspiration of Sir Garry Sobers, the only other West Indian to have held the record, retiring in 1974 with 8,032 runs from 93 Tests.
"He's a great man, someone who I have great respect for," Lara said of the legendary all-rounder and former West Indies captain. "He's helped me along the way-not just in international cricket but when I was 16 or even younger, playing the Garry Sobers tournament in Barbados.
"He had a look at me and said that I was going to be a Test cricketer and a good one at it," he added.
"It's nice to fulfil his dream. I know he appreciates what I've done."
Lara also paid tribute to Allan Border, the former Australian captain and another left-hander, whose record he surpassed.
"He's someone who I suppose has walked the same walk I have done in many ways, in playing for Australia in the '80s and having to play that pivotal role all the time, and I'm really happy to be up there with him," he said.
"Being alongside such a great individual, a great Australian, it's a great feeling," he added. "I'm sure that he would be happy that it's another left-hander who has gotten the record, especially someone who idolised him."
Lara referred to the impact he hoped his record and that of the Trinidad and Tobago football team in reaching the World Cup finals would have on "the psyche of the people of Trinidad and Tobago and indeed the Caribbean".
He recalled 1989 when "young Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy, two really close friends of mine" were in the Trinidad and Tobago football team that just failed to make it to the World Cup finals and he had been called into the West Indies team for the first time but only as 12th man.
"So maybe 1989 was a very disappointing year for us but here comes 2005 and you've got two of my best friends in the twilight of their careers actually heading to the World Cup in 2006 and myself eclipsing Allan Border's record today," he said.
"I love that. I love the fact that with all that has taken place over the last 16 years in our lives, we can still come together and see some sort of success at the end of the road," he said. "I'm happy for my country in the football scenario, and I'm sure they'll be rejoicing again today.
"Unfortunately, as a (cricket) team, the West Indies isn't doing well, and I know this captures the heart of the people of the Caribbean," he noted. "It's the only one that really unites the Caribbean and unfortunately we haven't been able to get our act together."
He referred to playing for the West Indies as "the most honourable position in West Indian sports", citing the general feeling that the West Indies captain "is greater than any prime minister on any single island".
"This is what you look forward to as a kid, to play for the West Indies," Lara said. "I take that responsibility very seriously. I see it as a great honour to be out there battling with six million people in the Caribbean looking on and a diaspora all over the world expecting myself and the team to do well.
"I would like to see the young guys look at it in that way and see the responsibility that they have," he added.
Asked about the present social problems experienced in Trinidad and Tobago, Lara said he hoped his achievement and that of the football team would be "a catalyst".
"These sorts of celebrations over the years have been very short-lived (because) we don't see it as something that can actually raise a country," he added. "Not just the people, but the governments and the people in charge can use us sportsmen to see what we can do to lift the country because we are in a bit of dire straits and hopefully we can pull ourselves out of it."
