When Lara regained his captaincy in 2003 he was captaining a side, which was highly inconsistent and where discipline was a constant worry. Lara led them to a defeat in South Africa and a defeat in the hands of England in their own soil. But Lara made a timely come back and prevented a whitewash against England when he scored his career best 400 in the final test and eventually led West Indies to the only victory in the 4 match series.