Cantaro (Trinidad): Prime Ministers are calling with congratulatory messages. Newspapers across the islands devote special sections to him. And one company vows to name a helicopter after the star cricketer who batted as a kid with branches off coconut palms.

West Indies captain Brian Lara gave himself and the Caribbean a much-needed lift when he batted his way back into the history book on Monday, in a region where cricket always has been much more than a game, symbolising regional unity and victory over former colonisers.

“It’s the only thing where we can stand up and say, ‘look, we are better than you at this’,” cricket commentator and former Trinidad player Colin Murray said. “It gives the people of the West Indies a strength, a pride.”

Having been humiliated in the previous three Tests to lose a series to England for the first time since 1968, Lara silenced critics of his leadership by scoring an unbeaten 400 against the English to virtually save the West Indies from being swept in a home series for the first time.

Lara batted for almost 13 hours over three days to regain the scoring record he lost only briefly.

In the Trinidadian village of Cantaro, where Lara grew up, people called for a national holiday. “We just took back what is due to us,” said contract worker Winston Regis, moments after Lara broke Matthew Hayden’s record of 380.

Lara had held the record before with 375 against England in 1994, made at the same St John’s ground as his latest glorious marathon. Regis and others watched Lara’s performance on a small TV set at Cantaro’s valley bar, where Lara himself stops in for a beer when he visits.

But even amid the euphoria of Lara’s triumph, many warned that the West Indies’ slump still must be addressed. The team has fallen far from its glory days from the mid-1970s to mid-1990s, when the West Indies was unbeatable.

It’s been sometimes a troubled journey for Lara, 34, who had difficulty dealing with the adulation and success he earned early on. The last half of the 1990s brought surprising withdrawals from teams, false accusations of match-fixing and frequent feuds with the West Indies board.

After walking out of the 1995 England tour, he faced disciplinary proceedings. Some accused him of being a spoiled brat. Many questioned his commitment to West Indies cricket.

Despite this, he was elevated to the captaincy in 1998, then sacked in November that year in a pay dispute. He was reinstated four days later, and quit two years later, after losing every match in New Zealand.

Lara hinted at retirement as he took a six-month break. Last year he was named captain again, for the series against Australia. “The leadership skill has developed. I’m also a better listener now,” Lara said.

The revitalised skipper also promised to continue working hard on “getting the right combination, right attitude, character traits working toward a team that is going to do well long-term, not spontaneous — you know, here today, gone tomorrow.”

Former West Indies player and manager Andrew Ganteaume said, “he was not yet what you would call a mature man, but he’s come back a different man, and he can deal with the ups and downs of the game, and life I suppose.”

Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning said: “Lara has taken the entire Caribbean a quantum leap forward in the world of cricket. This tremendous achievement ... is symbolic of what the Caribbean is capable of achieving when we harness our strength and persevere with grit and determination in pursuit of excellence.”