Gayle trusted with ODI captaincy

Chris Gayle has been handed the captaincy of West Indies for their limited-overs series in England and Ireland. He will lead a 14-man squad that does not include the fast bowlers Corey Collymore and Jerome Taylor, who played at the World Cup in the Caribbean.

Austin Richards has received his first international call-up and along with Lendl Simmons and Dwayne Smith, he will join the squad after the fourth Test. Richards, 23, is a left-hand batsman from Antigua who has a modest domestic one-day record but impressed in his two first-class outings in 2006-07, making 183 for Leeward Islands against Windward Islands.

Daren Ganga, West Indies' stand-in Test captain, was not included in the one-day outfit and will depart after the Chester-le-Street Test, along with Sylvester Joseph. The appointment of Gayle as the limited-overs leader came after reports that the West Indies Cricket Board executive committee wanted Ganga to take the helm of the one-day side, even though he had played only seven ODIs in nearly five years. The committee did not want Gayle in charge on the grounds of indiscipline.

However, the board has ignored the committee's request and Gayle will lead the squad, supported by Shivnarine Chanderpaul as his vice-captain. Gayle has captained West Indies once before, in a 20-run loss to India at Cuttack in January.

The squad's first challenge is two Twenty20 games against England at The Oval, followed by three one-day matches between the two sides in the first week of July. West Indies then depart for Ireland, where they will take part in a four-nation tournament that also features Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland.

West Indies squad Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle (capt), Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Austin Richards, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith.