KINGSTON, Nov 1: Four newcomers, including Australian-born Brendon Nash, were on Friday named in the West Indies cricket side for an upcoming tour of New Zealand.

Chris Gayle was retained as captain while Ramnaresh Sarwan will be his deputy on the West Indies roster that will play Tests at Dunedin from Dec 11 to 15 and Napier from Dec 19 to 23 plus two Twenty20 and five One-day Internationals.

All-rounder Nash, who played for Jamaica in the West Indies tournament, had previously represented Queensland in Australia.

Lionel Barker, Kemar Roach and Leon Johnson were the other new faces on the West Indies squad.

Barker, from Montserrat, and Roach, from Barbados, are fast bowlers while Johnson is a batsman from Guyana.West Indies coach John Dyson said players look forward to the tour and hope to move up in the world cricket rankings. The West Indies are eighth in the Test rankings, one point below New Zealand.

“The New Zealand series will be hard fought,” Dyson said. “New Zealand is ranked one place higher than us and a series win might see the West Indies overtake New Zealand.“Like all the top teams, we will be looking for strong performances from our experienced, senior players.”

Meanwhile, the West Indies also named a one-day squad to face Pakistan in Abu Dhabi next month, with line-ups for the Twenty20 and ODIs in New Zealand will be named later.

West Indies Test squad:

Chris Gayle (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-captain), Lionel Baker, Carlton Baugh, Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Fidel Edwards, Leon Johnson, Xavier Marshall, Brendan Nash, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor.

ODI squad (for Abu Dhabi series):

Chris Gayle (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-captain), Lionel Baker, Carlton Baugh, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Shawn Findlay, Leon Johnson, Xavier Marshall, Nikita Miller, Dave Mohammed, Brendan Nash, Daren Powell, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor.—AFP