Tuesday, July 4 2006 16:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kingston: A fuming Brian Lara revealed he was informed on the eve of the just-ended fourth and final Test against India that he had been made a member of the West Indies selection committee one month earlier.

The 37-year-old batting superstar made the announcement late on Sunday, after his side lost the final Test by 49 runs inside three days and were beaten 1-0 in the series to give India a series victory in the Caribbean for the first time in 35 years.

Lara's disclosure comes against the backdrop of his public differences with the selection panel over the composition of the side during the series, and he asserts he may have to reconsider his position as West Indies captain.

"I got an endorsement letter (from the West Indies Cricket Board) a couple days ago saying that I was a selector since May 28," he told reporters at the post match news conference.

"I am definitely let down and I must tell you I know there is a meeting (relating to a new selection panel) coming up in a couple weeks and depending on the selectors out there, I'll revisit my decision to captain the West Indies team," he said.

Lara said his reputation was at stake in an unprecedented third term at the helm in light of his calls for certain players to be selected.

"I am just going to revisit it because it's painful what has gone on for the past couple months," he said.

"Not just the Test matches, but the one-day matches and really and truly, I have West Indies cricket at heart, but if it's a situation where my reputation as a captain is being dragged down, I'll have to think about it," he said.

"I mean this result is the first series win for the Indians in 35 years in the Caribbean and you are the captain of the team, but in actual fact, I was never given the team that I wanted," he said.

Lara said he understood the chemistry of the team and knew the players he needed to get the job done.

"Let's take, for instance, I said in the news conference after the second Test in St. Lucia that, in hindsight, a spinner should have played, yet two days later he was dropped from the entire 14," he said.

"How do you work these things out? It's unfortunate but as I said I think the selectors are coming up for selection very soon and depending on the outcome of that, I definitely have to revisit my decision to captain the West Indies team," he said.

Lara also criticised the Sabina Park pitch, despite his calls for lively surfaces to help the home team fast bowlers.

"The pitch for this Test match again, it reminds me of listening to West Indies play 30 years ago where we used to destroy Australia, but every time we got to Sydney, we used to lose," he said.

"It seems that we had this surface prepared for the Indians," he said

Lara was appointed captain for a third time in April after Shivnarine Chanderpaul resigned from the post. He previously led West Indies between 1998 and 2000, and again between 2003 and 2005.