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When his own fortunes, and that of his dispirited team, scraped rock bottom back in March, Brian Lara came to a clear and simple realisation.

I think its important for myself and for West Indies cricket that I try my best to solve my batting problems and see how best I can go out to get similar scores like I used to four years ago, the beleaguered West Indies captain told the assembled media at the Queens Park Oval where the West Indies had just been bowled out for 51 by Australia to lose their sixth successive Test by 312 runs.

At the time, Lara was on two months probation as captain after the preceding 5-0 debacle in South Africa for which his weaknesses in leadership were publicly cited by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and in which he averaged a paltry 31 an innings.

His predicament clearly concentrated Laras mind and the consequence was one of the most spectacular personal comebacks international sport has known.

He did proceed to get similar scores to four years earlier. His 213 in the second Test at Sabina Park and his unbeaten 158 in the third at Kensington Oval inspired great victories and instantly transformed the pessimism that enveloped West Indies cricket into universal euphoria.

In the intervening eight months, the gloom has again descended. The World Cup ended prematurely in dismissal at the preliminary stage and in the last 20 one-day internationals, in five tournaments, only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have been decisively beaten.

All five matches against Pakistan were comprehensively lost and the last two defeats in Sharjah, to Sri Lanka and Pakistan, were the heaviest the West Indies have ever suffered in the shorter form of the game.

Significantly, Lara himself has contributed negligibly. While the other leading batsmen of the age - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Saeed Anwar, the Waugh twins - are reeling off big runs at both levels, Lara averages 26.68 in his last 24 one-day internationals.

It is an obviously unsatisfactory return for someone so supremely gifted. It has had a debilitating effect on a team short on experience and self-confidence that yearns for the inspiration his batting imparted against Australia.

The problems have been plain for all to see, perhaps even more clearly by those viewing them subjectively.

Wasim Akram, the Pakistan captain, observed after the Toronto tournament, that the West Indies appeared to be there just for the sake of being there and that their body language suggested they were not having fun.

Mohammad Azharuddin, the former Indian captain, has recently commented that it resembles a side which has lost faith in itself.

The need for Lara to again to see how best he can go out and get similar scores like I used to is clear and essential as the West Indies prepare for a challenging tour of New Zealand that initiates an uninterrupted sequence of international assignments. Zimbabwe and Pakistan at home, England and Australia away follow one after the other.

Patently perilous

His relationship with his players and his own commitment and enthusiasm are also important. But, as was shown against Australia, these are largely dependent on his batting that can so devastate opponents and comfort team-mates.

While such reliance on one man is understandable, it is patently perilous. There are other senior batsmen in the team - for it is the batting that has been the source of the problems - who must pull their weight.

There are young newcomers who are relying not only on the captains guidance, but theirs as well. It is significant that in both Laras major innings against Australia, Jimmy Adams was by his side in critical partnerships. Limited he may be but Adams will not spurn his responsibilities.

Sherwin Campbell and Ridley Jacobs are other established fighters whose techniques may be open to question but not their hearts. As much as Lara, and more than anyone else, Shivnarine Chanderpaul faces a stern examination of his character and his resolve in the coming months.

Difficult times

The young Guyanese - he is, after all, still only 25 - has gone through difficult times in 1999. A shoulder injury kept him out of Test series against Australia, he has had to cope with the trauma of shooting a policeman in Georgetown, albeit through mistaken identity, and, if reliable reports from Guyana contain even a grain of truth, he has had other troubles in his personal life.

Alloy Lequay, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board and one of the West Indies longest-serving administrators, has even gone as far as to state that Chanderpaul needs counselling, that nobody is helping him and that we are going to lose him if he does not get help.

Lequay reacted indignantly when Michael Holding made similar observations about Lara at the height of his problematic period a couple of years back but his concern over Chanderpaul is not singular.

We have already lost Carl Hooper prematurely. We came close to losing Lara. Now Chanderpauls future seems in doubt.

In every regard, the first year of the new millennium is critical to the immediate future of West Indies cricket. Hopefully, everyone involved recognises it.

© The Barbados Nation