A CHATTERIS journalist has written a biography of one of the greatest cricketers of all time.

James Fuller charts the life of West Indian batting genius Brian Lara in his first book Caribbean Lives: Brian Lara.

Lara, who retired in 2008, holds the world record scores in Test cricket (400 not out), first-class cricket (501 not out) and the most runs in a test match over (28).

Mr Fuller wrote the book during the six years he lived in Lara’s homeland of Trinidad and Tobago.

He said: “I wanted to write about Lara’s career from the Caribbean perspective, as that had never been done before.

“Living in the Caribbean gave me the time and opportunity to access people who were close to him at every stage of his life and career: coaches, teachers, neighbours, family, school friends, fellow players both amateur and professional - people like Jimmy Adams and Deryck Murray,

“I also wanted to transmit that sense of vibrancy and fun which is so much a part of the Trinidadian culture; a culture which helped shape one of the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen.”

Mr Fuller has been a journalist for 13 years and was named the Newspaper Society’s UK Young Journalist of The Year in 2002.

He now lives in Tauranga, New Zealand, where he is a senior writer at the Bay of Plenty Times.

A keen cricketer, he played for Ely and Haddenham for nearly 20 years and for Chatteris in 2011.

He said: “Being a cricket fanatic of limited ability, writing a book was also the only way my name would ever be mentioned in the same breath as Brian Lara’s.”

Caribbean Lives: Brian Lara, published by Macmillan, is available on Amazon from May 31.