After a personally frustrating series against India, Brian Lara has admitted that he needs another six months to regain his best form following the elbow injury he sustained last December. At the time of the freak accident (he collided with a Sri Lankan fielder while batting in a one-day international), Lara appeared to have regained his best form after a few years of under-par performances. In 2001 he scored 1151 Test runs at 63.94 compared with 497 at 29.24 the previous year.

But after a three-month lay-off, Lara's return against India, which was heralded as the battle between him and Sachin Tendulkar, was a disappointment. In seven innings he mustered only 202 runs at 28.86 with a highest score of just 55.

Although at the time it was not thought that the injury would cause Lara any long-term problems, it now seems that the effects have been greater than envisaged. "I still don't get full extension (with the left arm)," Lara told Reuters. "I still need six more months for it to heal properly. At the moment, I would say I'm at 80 per cent and improving."

His slow progress was boosted by an unbeaten 59 in the third one-dayer against New Zealand. "My contribution has been missing for a while so it was nice to get some runs, get some confidence and hopefully it will carry through for the rest of the one-dayers and into the Test series to come."

If Lara does rediscover his best form, then West Indies batting line-up, already with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper in devastating touch, will be further strengthened in time for the World Cup. Which leaves just the bowling to worry about …

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd