Waugh's tactics came in for heavy criticism after the hosts made 418 to win the match, the highest victorious fourth-innings total in Test history. The 37-year-old, who passed former Australian captain Allan Border's record of 156 Test appearances during the series, defended his decision to bring on leg spinner Stuart MacGill with only a handful of runs needed.

"You've got to back your gut feeling," he said. "I thought Stuart would take care of the rest, it was a turning track and tail enders find it (leg spin) difficult to play against."

The Australian players were also criticised back home for their behaviour during an ill-tempered match, particularly fast bowler Glenn McGrath's heated altercation with West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan.

"Regardless of the result, the Australians have done nothing to enhance their reputations as sportsmen," Sydney Morning Herald cricket writer Peter Roebuck said. "Cricket searched for a champion team and found only an unscrupulous aggressor."

Waugh admitted his team had lost their cool.

"It wasn't pretty, we would like these things not to happen," he said. "We got ruffled yesterday and lost our composure."

The players' lack of discipline did not go unnoticed by Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland.

"It's all very well playing the game in the right spirit when things are going your way," Sutherland said. "But when things aren't, that's when the real test is on. If you can't carry yourself in the true spirit of the game at those times, perhaps you need to have a good look at yourself."

CONTROVERSIAL DECISIONS

The Australian selectors, never afraid of making tough and controversial decisions, may decide the time has come to end Waugh's reign.

With home series against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and India later this year it may be the ideal opportunity to hand Ricky Ponting, already well established as Waugh's successor as one-day skipper, control of the Test side.

Waugh said last week he believed he still had several years left at the top level, but his 36th Test victory as captain in Barbados last week, equalling the record of former West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd, could well be his last.

Despite another heavy series defeat in which West Indies lost three home Tests in a row for the first time in their history, Lara was full of optimism.

"West Indies have grown over the last two years and achieving this will catapult us to great things in the future," Lara said. "We've improved in every Test and I think we are not going to lose another Test this year. "It showed character and a progression of the guys' mentality," the 34-year-old added. "This is an opportunity for them to understand that they've created history."

The fact that Lara, who said before the fourth Test that his team were on the verge of "something fantastic", did not play the crucial role was perhaps the most significant factor for West Indies, who have been in the doldrums for years after dominating world cricket in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Although the record-breaking left-hander made 128 runs in the match, it was centuries by Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the fast bowling of Jermaine Lawson and the courageous batting of 20-year-old off spinner Omari Banks that inspired their side's unexpected triumph.

West Indies next face a home series against Sri Lanka and with Lara more secure than ever in his position as captain they have reason to feel there is finally light at the end of what has been a long tunnel.