Lara vows to fight on

Brian Lara has vowed to battle on as West Indies' captain, despite leading his team to their first home defeat against England for 36 years.

Lara, whose personal form has matched that of the West Indies team as a whole, has come under renewed pressure in recent days, as the Caribbean braces itself for a first-ever whitewash in a home series. And, with the series already decided, it is that match in Antigua which is at the centre of Lara's thoughts. "I have another Test match to focus on," he said, "so the time for assessing my position of captain is not now."

Even so, Lara accepted that he will be forced to reconsider his position if West Indies cannot halt their slump. "Assessment time will come," he admitted, "but I am here to play for West Indies and I will be doing that for some time to come."

Four years ago, Lara stood down after the humiliation of leading West Indies to a 3-0 whitewash in New Zealand, and it is quite possible that he could take a similar course of action now, having managed just 100 runs in the series to date. But, he added, it was up to his team-mates to play their part as well.

"We played four series before this and for me to score the most runs in each and every series is a little bit of a concern," said Lara. "I still believe we have a good group of young batsmen. It's not that they are too inadequate in technique or anything like that, but they have to understand that they are playing for West Indies and are following in the footsteps of great players. We need to try and emulate them, but you have to be a big man to play Test cricket."

One of those former greats is Sir Viv Richards, now the chairman of West Indies' selectors. He agreed that a lack of mental focus was at the root of the West Indian problems. "Individuals with a wonderful amount of ability have been unable to perform at their very best," he said. "We are looking for winners and some of the attitudes that we have seen are unacceptable and selfish.

"There are some guys who've played a few matches, and think they have a rightful place in the team - there's no such thing."