Lara leads WI to England

BRIDGETOWN: Brian Lara will lead West Indies on their four-Test series in England later this year. West Indies Cricket Board president Teddy Griffith confirmed this yesterday. And he also confirmed Ramnaresh Sarwan as vice-captain, Gus Logie as coach and Tony Howard manager. Griffith, a former Barbados and Jamaica batsman, also disclosed that next year’s West Indies First-Class Carib Cup Championship could be contested under a different format.

But he said there could be no invited international side for the championship. “First of all, it’s very expensive to bring foreign teams for our First-Class competition and so if we are going to have them they must be of  the best quality,” he said. Griffith revealed the selection panel has been asked to name a core of 30 players for specialised training ahead of the ICC World Cup West Indies 2007 by September this year. It is hoped the programme will produce a competitive West Indies squad for the event.

“They will be engaged in their cricket, but they would also be involved in a programme using the facilities at the St. George’s University in Grenada and the University of the West Indies in Barbados,” remarked Griffith on the Line and Length cricket discussion on CBC-TV. “Granted there may be people who may drop out and other people might come in, but want to get this done by the time the team returns from the Champions Trophy in England in September,” he said.