Question time for the lost prince

These have been unusually quiet times for Brian Lara. In the build-up to the World Cup the mercurial West Indian's name has been strangely absent from headlines which have never gone long without some reference to him – as the game's most devastating batsman or its most controversial character.

He has slid down the ratings behind the strapping left-hander Matthew Hayden, a clutch of other Australians, the classy Englishman Michael Vaughan and Sachin Tendulkar, the little Indian with whom he has vied throughout his career. And it has been months since editors could fill pages with reports of his latest spat with the authorities or the spicy details of his newest love affair.

There is good reason. Since his last innings for West Indies, 111 against Kenya in the Champions' Trophy in Col-ombo on 17 September, Lara has been shaking off the debilitating effects of an illness that hospitalised him the night of that match. He has not played a match of any consequence since.

Not that he has entirely lost his touch for making waves. Even the unhappy story of his condition in Sri Lanka was transformed into contentious drama. Incensed by team manager Ricky Skerritt's initial statement that he was suffering from "suspected hepa- titis", a vague diagnosis open to all sorts of interpretations, Lara instructed him, through his lawyer, to provide no further details. So it has remained a mystery, although no one doubts it was hepatitis A, the mildest form of the virus.

It eliminated him from the subsequent tours of India and Bangladesh and the Harley Street specialist employed by the West Indies Cricket Board only cleared him to resume playing in late November.

In the interim, Lara, a besotted golfer, teed off in the Barbados Open. When he failed to respond to correspondence from the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board asking him to join his national team's preparation for the 2003 first-class tournament, the board's president, Alloy Lequay, was suitably indignant. Lara had turned his back on Trinidad and Tobago, which had nurtured him, Lequay charged.

It was a brave tirade in a country where Lara has been generally referred to as "The Prince" from well before the magical seven weeks in 1994 when his 375 against England and unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire became new world batting records.

Lequay had always been a staunch supporter of Lara, even in his darkest days, and his disapproval reflected a growing frustration, even in Trinidad, with Lara's recent years which have seen his Test average plummet from over 60 to under 50.

Tony Becca, the respected, veteran sports editor of the Jamaica Gleaner, followed Lequay with a call for Lara to be left out of the World Cup. "In times past, the selectors, despite grumbling about Lara's attitude, despite whispering about its effect on the team and on West Indies cricket, failed to act," he wrote. "Hopefully, this set of selectors will stand up and say to Lara, enough is enough, win, lose or draw." It was an unrealistic hope.

The West Indies board president, Wes Hall, countered that Lara had to wait for medical clearance before he could start playing again. Once he had said that, there was no question Sir Viv Richards, the new chief selector, and his panel would pick him, as they have after his past lay-offs, for injury, illness, dejection or just plain pique. "I think it is marvellous that he is back and we welcome him with open arms," Richards said.

Coach Roger Harper's assertion that Lara "can really make a great difference for us" is self-evident, especially in a team whose young guns, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Marlon Samuels, raised confidence with their batting in the one-day series in India in November which West Indies won 4-3. The late withdrawal of Samuels with a recurring knee injury places added responsibility on Lara.

"I wasn't going to South Africa if I thought I was going to embarrass myself," Lara commented. "I'm one who has never sat on my laurels. I know I can play a very important part for West Indies and it's just a sorry situation that some people say I should be dropped."

As it has done in the past, the pressure might be the catalyst that lights Lara's fire in what, given his lifestyle, could be his last World Cup – he will be 37 when the Caribbean hosts the tournament in 2007.

Put on probation for two Tests against Australia in 1999, he responded with breathtaking innings of 213 and 153 not out which won two successive Tests. Going into the series in Sri Lanka late in 2001, he proclaimed his objective was to raise his Test average from 47 to above 50. He needed to score 610 in the three Tests. He made 688 and mastered Muttiah Muralitharan as no one has ever done.

Before heading off for South Africa last Tuesday, Lara once more set himself a goal. "I'm looking forward to reinstating myself as No 1 batsman in the world," he said. "That is my purpose in going to South Africa, to ensure that I get back up there at the top and to ensure West Indies come back with the World Cup." We have been warned.