ÒWÕen de fanfare over ... de acid test does start,Ó the little creature commented.

The fanfare is over and, while the Test hasnÕt started yet, the acid certainly has.

If Lara, or anyone else, was in doubt as to the difficult state of the wicket on which he will now have to at least metaphorically bat, he need only have listened to the phone-in on Radio Jamaica during FridayÕs rain interlude in the PresidentÕs Cup match.

While the Prince of Port-of-Spain was back home being feted on his final accession to the throne of West Indies cricket, the mood of those on the other end of the line into Sabina Park was utterly unforgiving.

But that was only to be expected. If he is jeered, booed, heckled and abused as he walks out to toss with Mike Atherton at Sabina Park on the morning of January 29, he will not be the first West Indies captain to receive such a reception.

Richie Richardson was similarly treated in his first appearance on West Indian soil as skipper, against South Africa at the same Sabina, and even icons like George Headley, Garry Sobers and Clive Lloyd had their share at venues further south.

Thankfully, there are level-headed voices in Jamaica, such as the respected sports editor of The Gleaner, Tony Becca, who have sought to calm the turbulent waters that can only cause the already listing ship of West Indies cricket to further founder.

If Courtney Walsh, a decent, wholehearted West Indian, can overcome his disappointment and play under a man for whom most of his fellow Jamaicans obviously have no time, it would be further welcome oil on the choppy surface.

Yet the likelihood is that the voices on FridayÕs phone lines will be multiplied a thousand times over and that the first test Lara will have to face, in his first Test, is a test of his infamous temperament.

He got a taste of it last October, also in Jamaica, during the Red Stripe Bowl and, according to the Trinidad and Tobago Board, took it pretty badly. It placed him under great psychological pressure and forced him to take refuge in his room. Now there is nowhere to hide and he must confront it head on.

The most emphatic way of doing so, of course, is to come out and make a hundred, Ð or two, or three, or four, or five! Ð and to continue doing so with the consistency that has deserted him over the past two years.

For all his acknowledged strategic acumen, it is his batting that will be more critical to his success as captain.

Like all the great players, batsmen especially, his is the example that can inspire his players and deflate the opposition, quite apart from quieting the detractors.

Wasim Akram has made the point that LaraÕs innate self-confidence should rub off on the whole team. Bradman, Sobers, Ian Chappell, Richards, Imran and Akram himself are just a few of the names that spring readily to mind as having such an effect on the teams they so effectively led.

It would obviously be simplistic to believe that even a double-hundred at Sabina by the new captain would immediately turn things round for LaraÕs image or for West Indies cricket.

HeÕs too complex a character and he problems are far too profound for that. ItÕs still a very long way to shore but it would be an encouraging way to start.

Big blunder

AS we wait in sincere hope for the leadership that will revive West Indies cricket, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) continues to confound and embarrass us with its instances of ineptitude.

Its latest error has gone straight to No. 1 on the charts of bloops, blunders and bloomers. How could it possibly have managed to get things so wrong that it could send a team to South Africa for the Youth World Cup with seven players over the age limit?

It is an issue that was raised as recently as the Under-15 World Challenge in England in 1996 when any numbers of players from India and Pakistan, the finalists, were shown to be over-age after the event.

There have been discrepancies in previous Under-19 bilateral series involving the West Indies. Surely, the first thing that had to be ascertained in any such tournament, above all others, was the date of qualification.

As ÒWoodyÓ Richard observed in his piece on VOB the other morning, if the WICB happened to be an American organisation it would have found itself facing several law suits from irate parents.

Instead, we are left to shake our heads again in depression and disbelief.