If cricket is a game of glorious uncertainty, history also has a habit of repeating itself.
Four years ago Brian Lara led a magnificent West Indies revival that almost resulted in the Caribbean side upsetting Australia in their last series staged in the Caribbean.
And as the events unfolded yesterday, the legendary Trinidadian finds himself compelled to perform a similar heroic feat in the current series.
As Australia continued to sink the dagger into West Indies wounds yesterday, Lara finds himself an ideal opportunity to repeat the epic double century he amassed to lead West Indies to a stirring victory at Sabina Park in the second Test of the 1999 series, after a first Test humiliation.
The historic sequence of events that followed is recorded in the annals of Test cricket history as one of the most enthralling clashes with Lara playing the lead role for the home team.
West Indies subsequently emerged with a drawn series result after enjoying a 2-1 lead but it was a disappointment for lots of West Indians although the series can be rated as thrilling as any played before including the 1960/61 tied Test rubber.
If they end this competition with a similar result it will be more than welcome, such is the dominance of the visiting team in the two matches so far.
Yesterday Australia's batsmen continued where they left off in the first innings and set Lara's men a mammoth victory target of 407 which could only be achieved with another superlative batting display led by the captain himself.
Double centurion Ricky Ponting failed by his own high standards for Australia this time around, but Matthew Hayden was not about to pass up the offerings on the friendly Queen's Park Oval pitch and hammered another century for which he has grown accustomed in recent times and which earned him the world's number-one batting ranking.
Given a second chance to amend, the painfully stereotyped Windies attack was clobbered all over the park for the second time in two days.
Merv Dillon had the consolation of dismissing Ponting when the latter edged an outswinger in identical manner as he did in the first innings when at 37 on Saturday. The difference today was wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh Jr who took a diving catch to his right as opposed to Marlon Samuels who grassed a low edge at first slip three days ago.
Again the challenged West Indies bowlers could not produce the energy nor determination to make an impact. Whenever Dillon was not in action the listless support group was hit about with utmost ease by the rampaging Hayden and Darren Lehmann, who gobbled up the offerings once again.
Not accustomed to that level of pressure, the players buckled under the pressure in the field with continuous misfielding , leaving them a sorry sight for most of the day.
If ever the watching West Indies selection panel needed a reason to change their thinking and pick real bowlers in the lineup, they will never get a better one than from the first two days and yesterday of this game.
It is now left to the batsmen to effect some measure of damage control in today's final day and so far Lara looks solid enough and eager to lead from the front.
Apart from saving the match or spearheading another miraculous victory of the type he engineered for his team against the Aussies in Barbados in 1999, Lara also has the incentive of correcting the anomaly of not yet scoring a Test century at his beloved Queens Park Oval.
Four years ago seems a long time ago for the left-hander to repeat such heroic feats, but being the class act he is, anything is possible from Brian Charles Lara.
All of Trinidad and the Caribbean wait with bated breath.