Carew criticises Ramdin's appointment

Joey Carew, the former West Indies chief selector, has criticised the appointment of Denesh Ramdin as vice-captain for the New Zealand ODIs. Carew, who served on the WICB, on and off, for roughly 20 years, said Ramdin was better off focusing on his cricket at this stage of this career.

"Three years ago, Sir Vivian Richards had advocated that Denesh Ramdin would be a good choice to lead the West Indies team," Carew told the Sun Weekend. "With the greatest respect for Sir Viv, I could not agree with him. Now three years later, maybe his words will come to past, and once again we are given a surprise decision by the West Indies cricket administrators."

Ramdin was elevated to be Chris Gayle's deputy for the remainder of West Indies' tour after Ramnaresh Sarwan stepped down from the post on the eve of the team's opening tour match against Auckland. "In my opinion, Ramdin needs to concentrate more on his cricket now and I would not think of side-tracking him with the responsibilities of the leadership," said Carew.

Ramdin, 23, was not part of the team that lost 3-0 to Pakistan in Abu Dhabi last month or the three-nation ODI series in Canada, involving the hosts and Bermuda, before that.

Former Trinidad & Tobago and West Indies offspinner Rangy Nanan felt Ramdin could benefit from the added responsibility of leadership. "I am elated for Denesh. He has always shown that he has the potential to lead, being a former West Indies Under-19 captain," said Nanan. "I hope this responsibility will benefit his career and work to the advantage of the team."