By Paul Grunill BBC Sport

If asked to choose a song to sum up the current fortunes of the West Indies cricket team, What's Going On? by Marvin Gaye might be an appropriate choice.

They are arguably at their lowest ebb since the end of a dismal tour to Australia in 2000-01, which resulted in drastic action being taken.

CAPTAINCY RECORDS Brian Lara (1996-2000, 2003-present) 32 Tests, nine wins, 18 defeats, five draws 64 ODIs 28 wins, 34 defeats, two no results Carl Hooper (2001-2003) 22 Tests, four wins, seven defeats, 11 draws 49 ODIs, 23 wins, 24 defeats, two no results Jimmy Adams (2000-2001) 15 Tests, four wins, eight defeats, three draws 26 ODIs 10 wins, 14 defeats, one no result, one tie

Out went skipper Jimmy Adams, to be replaced by Carl Hooper, and the selectors put the emphasis on finding young talent capable of reversing the team's declining fortunes.

Results were mixed over the next couple of years, but by the time Hooper was relieved of the captaincy in March 2003, things were definitely looking brighter.

The job passed to Brian Lara, put in charge for the second time, and although they were outplayed on home soil by Australia, they did not disgrace themselves against the finest team in the world.

Since then, however, nothing has gone right.

Comprehensively beaten in South Africa, the manner of their surrender in the first two Tests against England suggests they are back to square one.

Perhaps that is a little harsh as the emergence of fast bowlers Fidel Edwards and Tino Best at least offers West Indies some hope for the future.

Some of the players nurtured under Adams, Hooper and Lara should now be taking on extra responsibility as senior members of the side.

But for all their obvious ability, the likes of Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan still appear to be going through the maturing process.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, meanwhile, does not appear as close to Lara as he was to fellow Guyanese Hooper.

The West Indies selectors are under pressure to find an answer

Things must be desperate when respected Caribbean cricket broadcaster Tony Cozier turns on the team.

Yet that was the case last month when, writing for the Barbados Nation, Cozier hit out at the team's approach in South Africa.

He said management of the side was "deficient, not only in relation to such cricketing issues as fitness and practice but, just as importantly, to standards of dress and demeanour".

Cozier complained about the untidy off-the-field appearance of players and suggested they must be made to appreciate they are representatives of "an institution with a long and proud tradition and millions of people whose very psyche revolves around it".

His concerns were underlined after the first Test against England in Jamaica when a group of players were seen at a disco shortly after they had been bowled out for 47.

"I am disgusted at the thoughtlessness and shamelessness displayed by these players," said manager Ricky Skerritt, whose resignation was announced after the second Test.

West Indies manager resigns

The public apology issued by the West Indies Cricket Board failed to produce the positive reponse they hoped for as the team failed twice with the bat in the Trinidad Test.

Tino Best's arrival offers some consolation for Caribbean fans

In theory, West Indies and England should have been evenly matched but it has not been that way in practice so far. Far from it.

So what do West Indies do now?

Making wholesale changes to the batting is not the answer. That was tried against Australia in 1999, but who remembers Suruj Ragoonath, Lincoln Roberts and David Joseph now?

The selectors have to rely on Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul and especially Lara coming good in the second half of the series.

If that fails, Lara, who will be 35 in May, could soon find himself an ex-captain for the second time.