Can Lara Snap the Schneid?

For the umpteenth time, the West Indies will go into the final test of a series with one thing in mind: avoid an embarrassing whitewash.

However, the focus of all the match previews in newspapers around the word is on one man and his struggle for runs. Can Brian Lara snap out of the funk and deliver a lasting memory in what is most certainly his last Test in Australia?

Those are the questions being asked in Tony Cozier pre-Test column that appears in the Barbados Nation, Stabroek News and Trinidad Express.

"It was in Australia that he introduced himself as an exceptional player 13 years ago with the first of his three-figure innings, his 277 in Sydney, in the judgement of many, myself among them, the best of his 30...It would be a travesty for him to leave the scene with another team loss and another whitewash," Cozier writes.

Cozier notes that Lara overtook former Aussie skipper Steve Waugh in the No.2 spot among the highest scorers in Test cricket during the second Test and now needs another 213 to reach another Australian captain, Allan Border, whose 11,174 runs make him top of the list.

"For a batsman who has scored 400 not out, 375 and five double-hundreds in Tests, it is patently not beyond him to claim another record here."

Aussie champion spinner Shane Warne is also on "Lara Watch," warning that the left-hander "has got at least one big innings in him somewhere..."

Lara has scored only 102 runs in four innings in the series but Warne is backing him to get up off the canvas and deliver something memorable. "[H]opefully it's [the] Test match after this one," Warne said. "To me he is probably the most destructive player in my 15 years in cricket that I've played against."

In the Herald Sun, columnist Robert Craddock points out that the West Indies senior players must take most of the blame for their team's forgettable Australian tour.

For the West Indies to be competitive, Craddock argues that one of Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle had to stand up and be counted.

"No one has. Between them they have made just one half-century from 16 innings, and 349 runs at an average of 21. The Windies would never have expected all of the Fab Four to fire, but at least one or two of them had to make an impact," Craddock writes.

He said Sarwan was outfoxed by clever bowling from Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee that exposed his tendency to nibble outside the off-stump and also took a swipe at Chanderpaul's struggles.

"Chanderpaul, wonderful trier though he undoubtedly is, has mentally buckled under the burden of the captaincy, a role he does not seem suited to."

Still in Australia, Cozier provides a refreshing update on Chris Gayle, who underwent a "minor procedure" to deal with an irregular heartbeat.

Cozier quotes West Indies team spokesman Imran Khan as saying Gayle was up and about and his "usual cavalier self" a few hours after the surgery, which was done by Professor Jonathan Kalman at the Melbourne Private.

"When I spoke to him, there certainly wasn't any difference to his usual self. He was happy and joking as usual. He has spoken to his family back in Jamaica and is very relaxed about the situation, as we expected he would be," Khan added.

Wisden Cricinfo reports that two former Aussie 'keepers -- Adam Gilchrist and Ian Healy are helping Denesh Ramdin to improve his batting and wicket-keeping skills on the tour of Australia.

Ramdin spoke to Healy during West Indies tour of Sri Lanka in July and was given some technical tips to work on. "I think I've developed a bit more with my keeping," he said.

"I've come over to Australia and he's done a few more things with me, a couple of tips batting-wise and about the wickets and how to keep on them with the bounce. By talking to him he helped me setting drills that will help me through the Tests and also while I'm at practice."

The Associated Press has caught up with left-arm seamer Pedro Collins to provide an update on his injury rehab program.

Collins, who is recovering from a back injury, plans to make a full return next January, in time to be selected for West Indies' tour of New Zealand in February-March.

"Right now it's rest on the agenda," Collins said. "I'm eager to get back, I really am. Watching the series in Australia on television has made me quite excited to make a return."

In the Trinidad Express, Trinidad & Tobago coach David Williams is making a bold prediction ahead of this year's Carib Cup four-day tournament.

"What we have seen thus far, we are very confident that we are going to make it to the semi-finals...or to the final, rather. The attitude is right, the discipline is good, the guys are pretty much focused, the team spirit is excellent, so it's just a matter of getting out there and doing the stuff," Williams declared.

However, the newspaper notes that T&T will go into the abbreviated competition of just five preliminary round matches, instead of last season's ten, short of match practice and with the memory of their disastrous KFC Cup one-day defense still fresh in their minds.

In the Barbados Nation, Philip Spooner reports on the World Cup 2007 ticket pricing information and provides a useful breakdown of the actual prices for the matches:

Final in Barbados ? US$100 to US$300
Category 1 ? US$300
Category 2 ? US$200
Category 3 ? US$100
Party Stand ? US$200

Semi-finals in Jamaica and St Lucia ? US$50 to US$130
Super 8 in Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, Guyana ? US$25 to US$100
Category 1 ? US$100
Category 2 ? US$75
Category 3 ? US$25
Party Stand ? US$90

Opening ceremony in Tralawney, Jamaica ? US$50 to S$120
First round in Trinidad, St Kitts, Jamaica, St Lucia ? US$15 to US$100
Pre-tournament in Barbados, Trinidad and St Vincent ? US$10 to US$40.

Maria Bradshaw also writes in the Nation that Barbados is going to the international market to borrow $250 million to finance Cricket World Cup 2007 and strengthen the country's balance of payments.

Barbados Attorney-General Mia Mottley said the loan had an interest rate of 6.25 per cent ? the lowest any Barbados Government had attracted internationally. The transaction is being managed by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and would have a format where Government would be seeking to issue bonds bearing an interest rate of 6.25 per cent and maturing in 2035.