Sarwan 4th Indian origin player to lead Windies

Port of Spain : Ramnaresh Sarwan has become the fourth player of Indian origin to captain the West Indies cricket since the game was introduced here more than 120 years ago.

He is the first player of Indian origin from Trinidad and Tobago to lead the West Indies. The others – Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kallicharan and Shivanarine Chanderpaul – are all Guyanese.

He has taken over from the legendary Brian Lara, who resigned from both Test and first class cricket after the World Cup.

In another first for the West Indies, both the captain and vice-captain will be players of Indian origin. Trinidad-born Darren Ganga will be Sarwan's deputy during the England tour.

Trinidad is home to around 520,000 people of Indian origin – about half the islands' population – most of who are descendants of Indians who had come between 1838 and 1917 to work as indentured labour in the sugarcane plantations here.

Sarwan made his Test debut against Pakistan in Barbados in May 2000, and took over as Lara's deputy in March 2003. He scored his first Test century (119) in December 2002 and has played in 64 Tests, scoring 4,268 runs at an average of 44.83.

Darren has played in 41 Tests and was considered for captaincy but lost to Sarwan because of the latter's experience. He performed exceedingly well in the West Indies A team in several regional and international matches.

Meanwhile, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has been given until Monday to submit documents to the arbitration panel mediating the ongoing payment impasse with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA).

WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine remained tightlipped as to whether the players would boycott the England tour if a settlement was not reached by then.

He said there was a class conflict between the people who play and people who control cricket.

The West Indies team is expected to leave for England Tuesday to play four Tests and three One-Day Internationals.