PORT-OF-SPAIN, April 8: Ramnaresh Sarwan has put all the debate in the Caribbean about the captaincy position of the West Indies team to bed.

The West Indies vice-captain has publicly announced that Chris Gayle is the best man for the job, and he has no qualms playing second fiddle to the left-handed opener.

“Chris (Gayle) has been doing a great job with the team, everyone has been rallying around him, and I don’t think there is anyone better to do the job at the moment,” Sarwan told reporters.

“He is the most calm person I have ever seen on a cricket field, whether he is captain or a regular player. He has been very quiet in the dressing room, and whenever he needs to say stuff, he does say it. That’s great.

“Everyone is very laid back. We know how West Indians are, and when he needs to put his foot down, he does put it down, but no one comes out from their personality, no one is scared and that is really good for us.

“Once everyone is calm in the dressing room, and calm on the field, we will get the best out of them.”

Sarwan had been given the poisoned chalice for the West Indies tour to England last year, after Brian Lara’s sudden retirement following the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

A shoulder injury sustained in the second Test in England when sliding to field a ball, cut short his trip, and discarded opener Daren Ganga led the team in the last two Tests, while Gayle was controversially handed the one-day captain’s armband.

When Sarwan was again ruled out of the tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa because of an ankle injury in the West Indies domestic limited-overs competition last October, Gayle was again appointed.

Gayle led the team to victory in a five-match ODI series in Zimbabwe, and inspired them to astonishingly win the first Test against the Proteas before a number of injuries — including a fractured thumb for the captain — set West Indies back for the remainder of the tour.

“Our coach (John Dyson) mentioned in the dressing room

(after the Test win on Sunday against Sri Lanka), this is our second win in the last five Test matches and it has all been under Chris,” Sarwan said.

“So it is important that we continue to play as a team and work as a team and if we do that we will compete against every other team and win games against every other team.”

Sarwan also dismissed suggestions that he could replace Lara as the star batsman in the side.

“I don’t need stardom,” he said. “I just need us to play as a team, and continue to play as a team.

“We played very well in South Africa, unfortunately we couldn’t win the series because of injury, but all credit must go to Chris. I’m sure he doesn’t want any stardom nor does Shivnarine Chanderpaul want any stardom.

“What we all want is to build a team and, hopefully, West Indies cricket can go forward and I think that is important.”

Sarwan, meanwhile, hoped his match-winning hundred for the West Indies in the second Test against Sri Lanka will be the beginning of greater things to come.

Sarwan hit his 10th Test hundred of 102, as the West Indies, chasing 253 for victory, reached their target a little over an hour after tea on the fourth day on Sunday.

It ended a two-year spell without a hundred for the 27-year-old Sarwan and also announced that he was fully back into the groove, following string of injuries that sidelined him and kept him out of the game over the last 10 months.

“When I couldn’t play I

realised how much I was missing the game and ...it gave me time to think about what I can do,” he said, noting he leant on family, friends, and team-mates to help him pull through a difficult period.

“I am thankful for their support and I just want to continue preparing the way that I have been for this series, and hopefully, I will be able to put together more scores like this.”

Prior to this innings, Sarwan had scores of 80, 72, and 57 in the series, and he was a relieved man, when he lapped Muttiah Muralitharan to deep fine leg for the last of his 15 boundaries to reach his hundred, and end his months of frustration.—AFP