Jamaica hand Breese the captaincy

Gareth Breese, who played one Test for West Indies a year ago, has been appointed as Jamaica's captain for the 2004 Carib Beer Series. He replaces Robert Samuels, who was not named in the training squad to prepare for the championships, which start on January 9, the same day Breese celebrates his 28th birthday.

"I am looking forward to the challenge and, hopefully, I will perform as captain as well as player," said Breese. "I just want everybody to be comfortable and to play to their potential, and if we can win trophies that would be great."

Breese has been a consistent performer for Jamaica in recent years, and his solid middle-order batting and tidy offspin earned him a trip to India with West Indies in 2002-03. He played one Test, in which he made 5 and took two expensive wickets. He was promptly dropped and hasn't yet been recalled.

In 42 first-class matches, Breese has scored 1553 runs at 28.75 and taken 131 wickets at 22.85.