Sir Everton Weekes was only expressing what so many have increasingly dreaded.

"We have seen the best of (Brian) Lara," Weekes, one of the greatest of the many great West Indian batsmen, said a few days ago of the latest in the lineage. He added, with typical understanding, "and it's unfortunate to say that".

No batsman of the present generation, none, has given as much universal pleasure as the dynamic Trinidadian left-hander. None has been as capable of so clinically decimating bowling.

No one, of course, has scored as many as 375 in a single Test innings, as he did against England in Antigua in April, 1994, or matched the 501 not out he amassed in an English county match a few weeks later.

His 277 at Sydney in December, 1992, and his unbeaten 153 that almost single-handedly won the Test against Australia at Kensington two years ago were the stuff of dreams. They created memories to last a lifetime.

This is the background that prompted Sir Everton's adjective "unfortunate". It is the record of times past that encourages the hope, even against hope, that every new hundred marks a return to the Lara to whom hundreds once came as a matter of course.

The craving of West Indians to have Lara on song again was clear in the CMC report out of Kingston last Friday. It said his 129 in the Red Stripe Bowl match against South Windwards "signalled that he may not yet be past his best", even if it was in an incredible total of 409 for six on a small ground in which two others passed three figures.

The fact is that Lara, in the form and, more pertinently, the mood, he was against the Australians in 1999, and in the early years of his career, is to the West Indies team what anabolic steroids were to Ben Johnson.

The form and the mood have become more and more spasmodic and everything seems to indicate that Weekes is right and that Lara's best is, indeed, behind him.

Even those in authority in Trinidad, who once refused to appreciate the pressures of fame and fortune that were overwhelming their favourite son, now bemoan the decline that has seen his Test average drop from 60 to 48 in four years. They speak of a problem of attitude.

Alloy Lequay, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, told the Express newspaper last week that he agreed fully with Sir Everton.

"Brian can give much to cricket and much is expected of him," he said. "But he lacks focus and consistency and, at this point in time, there is no evidence of his return to his halcyon days."

He felt that even if Lara now showed the necessary commitment, it would still be too late for him to rediscover his form that brought him two world batting records in 1994.

"I think it is too late for that now," Lequay added. "I think a change of attitude will give him a longer cricket life but not the consistency which we saw in the 1993?1995 period."

Tony Gray, the former Test fast bowler and national coach who is currently attached to the national under-19 team, also identified the main problem as Lara's "motivational levels".

"He is an elite athlete and the elite athlete needs high levels of motivation," Gray added. "To make centuries consistently, I think that is where motivation is important."

All of this has been obvious in recent times.

Lara gave up the captaincy and took a four-months break from the game last year. He openly expressed concern about his future in the game and sought the help of a New York psychiatrist.

A year after his return, he opted out of the recent tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya, citing a "persistent hamstring injury". He didn't play in any of Trinidad & Tobago's trial matches for the Red Stripe Bowl.

"I might be at the crossroads and I might be in my 30s competing against guys in their early 20s but I think a fit Brian Lara is still capable of being the best," he said as he aborted the Zimbabwe tour.

They would have been encouraging words but for the fact that Lara had made several similar pronouncements in the past. Now they had a hollow ring.

Lara is at the age, 32, when he needs to pay more attention to fitness and practice. Yet training and nets seem to have become a chore.

Those close to him report that he spends more time on the golf course, trying to master a game that has become an obsession, than on the cricket field.

As far back as the 1995 tour of England, he complained to manager Wes Hall that "cricket is ruining my life" and left the team, actually announcing his retirement.

These were the early signs that focus and motivation, and their by-product consistency, were potential problems. The consensus now is that they are insoluble.

Still, all is not lost. Carl Hooper has shown how a cricketing career can be turned around, even in the mid 30s.

He, too, was seldom at ease in the West Indies team. His commitment was questionable.

On that troubled 1995 tour, he complained of "frustration and mental and physical tiredness". Four years on, he suddenly retired. He was a troubled soul.

Yet he has returned, clearly changed. No longer is he frustrated or mentally tired.

He has regained his desire and is relishing the captaincy, a role I, and several others, believed beyond his capacity. We made our judgement on the previous Hooper. The new Hooper has proved that judgement premature and hasty.

Marriage and strengthened Christian beliefs have been given by friends as two powerful reasons for Hooper's renaissance. There are other factors that can have the same effect and Lara may yet find them.

Perhaps he needs a strong talking to by someone he respects and will listen to, like the new West Indies Cricket Board president Rev. Wes Hall. Or like Curtly Ambrose.

When things were going especially badly on the 1995 tour of England, Hall, then manager, related an incident in his tour report when Ambrose told Lara: "It seems like you don't want to bat long again. Where is the hunger, will and determination? They cannot get you out unless you get yourself out. You are not the same man - so get hungry."

So said so done. Lara followed with Test scores of 87, 145, 152, 20 and 179.

Can someone get the same response now? or is it too late?