The two central figures in the captaincy debate stood, as the rain fell, inside the function room at the Club Antigua complex where Pat Rousseau, president of the West Indies board, made the expected announcement of Lara's succession, and talked for five minutes before heading their separate ways. Now Walsh, fast closing on Malcolm Marshall's West Indies record for Test wickets, will take his time before deciding on his future.

``It's a priority to have Courtney in the side,'' said Lara. ``He is disappointed to lose his job but I have known him for seven years and he is a gentleman of the highest standard. I think he is looking at Malcolm's record and I'm sure he will come out of this with flying colours. I'm confident he will be alongside me in Kingston.''

Walsh, who indicated during the West Indies' dreadful tour of Pakistan that he would not play under Lara before seemingly changing his mind in Sharjah during the Champions Cup, remained non-commital about the timing of his international retirement. ``This is disappointing, but life goes on,'' he said. ``I hope Brian achieves all people want him to do and he has my full support. Will I play on? It's something I have to decide. I need a few days to put everything together.''

Lara, in understandably upbeat and communicative mood, accepted that he is now occupying a ``tricky seat''. He said: ``As West Indies leader, you are open to the public and have a lot of critics. There are a lot of positives and negatives about it. But what I do know is that I have to put my house in order. We have had some bad results, but I'm not looking for success in the distant future. I want it in this series.''

When asked about his views on the outcome of the series and the optimism with which England will go into it, Lara said: ``They had a lot of optimism in 1994 too - we were without people like Viv Richards and Jeffrey Dujon - but we won 3-1. They are right to have hope when you look at the state of our cricket, but we will not lie down and will be going all out for victory.''