Sarwan backs Gayle as captain

Ramnaresh Sarwan has backed Chris Gayle as West Indies captain by saying there is no one else at the moment who could do a better job than Gayle. "He is the most calm person I have ever seen on a cricket field, whether he is captain or a regular player, he has been very quiet in the dressing room and whenever he needs to say stuff he does say it, that's great," Sarwan said.

Sarwan was replaced by Gayle as captain for West Indies' tour of South Africa in late 2007 after a shoulder injury he picked up in England in May that year ruled him out of the series. Gayle led West Indies to their maiden win in South Africa but they ended up losing the series 2-1.

Sarwan made his return to the side last month for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka but the selectors chose to go with the successful Gayle as captain. Sarwan said that did not bother him. Though Sri Lanka won the first Test in Guyana, West Indies came back strongly in Trinidad to level the series. Sarwan scored a second-innings century as West Indies chased 253.

"Coach [John Dyson] mentioned in the dressing room [after the win], this is our second win in the last five Test matches and it has all been under Chris so it is important that we continue to play as a team and work as a team and if we do that we will compete against every other team and win games against every other team.

"Everyone is very laid back, we know how West Indians are and when he needs to put his foot down he does put it down, no one comes out from their personality, no one is scared and that is really good for us, once everyone is calm in the dressing room and calm on the field we will get the best out of them."

Sarwan also said he was not interested in replacing Brian Lara as the team's star batsman.

"I don't need stardom, I just need us to play as a team and continue to play as a team, we played very well in South Africa, unfortunately we couldn't win the series because of injury, all credit must go to him [Gayle], I'm sure he doesn't want any stardom or Shiv [Chanderpaul] doesn't want any stardom. We want to build a team and hopefully West Indies cricket can go forward and I think that is important."