Laras return to the helm of West Indies Cricket
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has seemingly been forced to admit that it has failed to systematically develop the game of cricket in the Caribbean.
That is perhaps one of the interpretations that can be placed on the WICBs recent decision to return the captaincy of the West Indies Cricket team to Brian Charles Lara, the Prince of Port of Spain.
Late last week the WICB announced that Lara will serve as captain for the current tour against Zimbabwe and seemingly, through to the World Cup.
Lara has long insisted that he will retire from competitive cricket following the conclusion of the Cricket World Cup 2007.
The announcement was met with an array of comments across the entire Caribbean as well as amongst cricketing nations the world over.
Many analysts seemed to think that Laras appointment is good for the West Indies team and for cricket in general while others lamented the poor state of the game in the Caribbean that seemingly left the WICB in the sort of semi-tragic situation that literally left them little choice.
Laras Captaincy experiences
Brian Lara has had two previous stints as captain of the West Indies team.
On both occasions his performance was nothing to shout positively about. There was much to chant him for by the standards of previous captains in this part of the world.
The experiences we have witnessed in respect of Laras leadership of the team left much to be desired.
Perhaps though, we have to blame much of Laras intransigencies on his development.
Laras youthful experiences saw him pushed to the top of the international cricketing world and a virtual millionaire in his early 20s.