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With his future, hanging on a string over the past three-and-a-half-months, Brian Lara was last night thrown a lifeline by the West Indies Cricket Board.

Lara, West Indies captain for the last two Test series against England and South Africa, has been appointed skipper for half of the upcoming series against the touring Australians.

``The Board has accepted the recommendation of the selection committee that Brian Lara be retained as captain for the first two matches of the series,'' West Indies Cricket Board president Pat Rousseau told the Caribbean via live news conference last evening from the Courland Hotel in Antigua.

``The board of selectors value Mr Lara' outstanding cricket ability and would like to see him carry on the tradition of great leadership of West Indies cricket established by captains of the past,'' Rousseau declared.

But he added somewhat ominously, ``we have however told Mr Lara that he has to make significant improvements in his leadership skills. We believe he has it in him to fulfill his potential but we are not prepared to wait indefinitely.''

Lara, Rousseau said, will have to satisfy a number of criteria, including punctuality and communication with team members if he is to retain the captaincy for the remaining matches.

The conditional appointment of Lara, ended a week of intense speculation over his immediate future. It was a week in which rumours abounded that the WICB was not prepared to retain him following the 5-0 and 6-1 drubbings his team received in South Africa.

The president also revealed that investigations into the ill-fated tour, ``pointed clearly to weakness in leadership that contributed to the poor performance of the team. Problems,'' Rousseau said were also evident with the positions of coach and manager.''

Rousseau conceded that the Lara recommendation that came from the selection panel of Michael Findlay, Joey Carew and Joel Garner was accepted only after, ``lengthy deliberations.''

However, Lara will not be the only man on trial. Stating that, ``the three leaders cannot escape responsibility for it (the team's performance on tour), Rousseau said that both manager Clive Lloyd and coach Malcolm Marshall will have to meet certain criteria outlined by the WICB.

And in a rare candid declaration, the WICB president also said that Stuart Williams and Franklin Rose will go before the disciplinary committee to answer charges.

Rousseau however did not say what were the charges the two players were to answer.

Williams, currently captaining the Board XI team against Australia is vying for a place in the side for the first Test at the Queen's Park Oval.

That team is to be named on March 1.