by TONY COZIER

FOR THE SECOND TIME in his three terms as captain, Brian Lara is to face a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) inquiry into his leadership.

The WICB announced on Saturday the appointment of a committee, headed by president Ken Gordon, to "investigate all matters" relating to Lara's public criticism of selections and pitches after the West Indies' loss to India in the final Test of the recent home series.

The committee was directed "to take such action as they may consider appropriate after these matters are discussed with him".

Lara is presently out of the Caribbean, but the WICB said it expected the committee would meet with him within two weeks.

Apart from president Gordon, the committee members are all WICB directors. They are Gregory Shillingford, the Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA) president and one-time WICB chief executive, former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, and former UWI chancellor Sir Alister McIntyre, who were both voted into office as non-member directors at the annual meeting in Barbados last Thursday.

The problems this time concern Lara's statements and actions during and after the last Test.

He claimed that he was never given the team he wanted throughout the series, said he felt "let down" and asserted that "it is a situation where my reputation as a captain is dragged down".

He revealed he only received a letter from the WICB dated May 28 notifying him that he had been appointed a selector until June 29.

"I must tell you there is a meeting coming up in a couple of weeks and, depending on the selectors, I would definitely revisit my decision to captain the West Indies team," he told the post-Test media conference.

Lara was also openly and fiercely critical of the Sabina Park pitch for the last Test, terming it "not worthy for such an important Test match", adding that it seemed that it was "prepared for the Indians".

After a ball from Harbhajan Singh spun past his bat in his second innings, Lara turned in the direction of the ground staff and mockingly applauded on his bat.

Lara, 37, has since told BBC radio in England last week that he is looking forward to the West Indies' defending the ICC Champions Trophy in India in October and next year's World Cup and that he would like to make the West Indies' tour of England next summer his swansong.