Sarwan critical of domestic programme

	Ramnaresh Sarwan thinks it is asking a lot of young players to switch between four-day and Twenty20 cricket © Getty Images

West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan has criticised the itinerary of the domestic season in the Caribbean, saying it won't help the development of young players to be constantly switching between different formats.

Currently the third round of the Carib Beer Cup, the first-class tournament, is taking place but when that is complete the focus will shift to the Stanford Twenty20 which runs for a month starting on January 25. The Carib Beer Cup resumes on February 29 and runs until March 31, then there is another break ahead of the Challenge final starting on April 24.

"You probably have to feel more for the younger players," Sarwan told the CMC news agency. "I would be able to adapt, but I just think it's very strange that you play a four-day competition and then you go straight into Twenty20 and then back into a four-day and then probably into a Test series.

"I really don't want to say too much about the structure, but I just think players got to be able to adjust themselves and hopefully they can do it as quickly as possible."

Sarwan has suffered a string of injuries since being forced home from last year's tour of England. He was ruled out of the current South Africa tour where Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo have stood in as captain.

West Indies' home international season begins on March 22 with the first of two Tests against Sri Lanka. Australia then arrive for a tour which includes three Tests and five ODIs.