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The West Indies Cricket Board is under fire from many quarters for its decision to retain Brian Lara as captain of the West Indies team initially for the first two Tests against Australia, and deservedly so.

As far as cricket fans around the region and others close to the game are concerned, the tour of South Africa was a disaster and apart from his own disappointing performance, the captain contributed to the low morale of the players and should have been replaced.

The selectors, however, recommended he be retained, the board accepted the recommendation and the fans are hopping mad.

Based on the outbursts of the fans, the board, which has the power to accept or reject the selectors' recommendation as to who should be the captain, has let down West Indies cricket - especially as it seems to agree that Lara did a poor job.

The board's investigations involved looking at the reports from the captain, the manager, the coach and the physiotherapist, meetings which involved the board president, the board's chief executive officer, the chairman of the cricket committee, the chairman of the selection committee, the captain, the manager and the coach, and at the end of what president Pat Rousseau said were efforts to get the facts and to guide the deliberations of the board fairly, the captain was found guilty of weak leadership.

In announcing the board's decision in Antigua on Monday, Rousseau said Lara would be given specific performance targets related to improvement in his relationship with his players, discipline, interaction with the coach and manager and nurturing and development of his team members.

Those, among other things, were what Lara was guilty of in South Africa, and by retaining him, the board has once again demonstrated its own weakness and its inability to lead West Indies cricket - the same weakness and the same inability to act which will see the manager and the coach retained despite, as the president himself pointed out, their own weakness as members of The Management team.

In their defence, and remembering that the president explained Lara's re-appointment as a cricketing decision, the board and the selectors will probably argue that they have a responsibility to protect the image of West Indies cricket, that they need to put up a good show against Australia, that after looking around there was no suitable candidate for the captaincy, that on top of that they wanted their number one batsman in a good frame of mind, and therefore, they had no choice but to stick with Lara.

As it is with the explanation that manager Clive Lloyd and coach Malcolm Marshall have to be retained until their contracts expire later this year, that, however, does not wash. There is more to the image of West Indies cricket than winning or losing.

The image of West Indies cricket was tarnished before and during the series in South Africa, Lara was the main cause and a good decision, cricketing, political or whatever, would have been to select a new captain.

West Indies cricket is hurting, the fans are disappointed, and the board knows it - that is why Rousseau ended his presentation in Antigua with these words: ``We invite and urge you to give your full support to the captain, management and members of the West Indies team and come out in large numbers to the Tests and one-day games. West Indies cricket needs you!''

What West Indies cricket needs is a board which respects the feeling of the people and which will not pamper prima donnas.

The West Indies board under Rousseau has been moving to put in the kind of infrastructure which will serve the development of West Indies cricket in the future, and although the call is out, it would be wrong to ask the board to quit. Those, however, who supported or voted for the retention of Lara as captain has compromised West Indies cricket and should go their way.