Ramnaresh Sarwan has been appointed as the new captain of West Indies following the retirement of Brian Lara, Caribbean media reported on Sunday. CMC Sport said that Sarwan had been given the job at a meeting of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) on Sunday.

The WICB were not immediately reachable for confirmation.

The 26-year-old right-handed batsmen from Guyana had been widely tipped to take the job for the upcoming tour of England. The first Test is on May 17. Sarwan, who was Lara's vice-captain, has played in 65 Test matches and 124 one-day internationals.

URL: http://cricketflavor.blogspot.com/2007/04/sarwan-named-west-indies-captain.html

Disagreeing with BCCI's explanation that Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have been rested for next month's Bangladesh tour, cricketing great Kapil Dev on Monday said that it was clear to him that the duo have been dropped.

"Rules cannot be different for different cricketers. There are no half measures for me... either you drop them or take them. There is nothing called rested," Kapil, India's only World Cup winning captain, told reporters in Kolkata.

"They have not played so much cricket for the last six months that they have to be rested. They have been dropped", said Kapil, who is here on a coaching assignment for the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

On the upcoming Bangladesh series, Kapil said that the Indian players need a good series to regain confidence after their poor performance in the World Cup in the West Indies.

"The side is not that much confident at the moment after the World Cup. They need a good series. At the same time they should also ensure that there are no further goof-ups." Kapil, who is also chairman of the NCA, said.

Kapil, who inspected the gymnasium and other practice facilities at the Eden Gardens here, expressed satisfaction with the arrangement made for youngsters at the NCA.

"During our playing days, we did not have access to such facilities. These are the best possible facilities," he said.

"During our time we had nothing to do during the off-season. Now with such facilities in place, players can practice round the year", he said.

The former all-rounder did not agree that there was a dearth of talents coming up.

Kapil, who would be giving tips to the NCA trainees later in the day, said it would be his job to get the best out of the players and help out those who had the potential to turn out for India.

URL: http://cricketflavor.blogspot.com/2007/04/sachin-sourav-have-been-dropped-kapil.html