Gayle to captain West Indies in one-dayers

Chris Gayle will captain West Indies in their forthcoming Twenty20 matches and one-day internationals against England, with stand-in Test skipper Daren Ganga omitted from the 14-man squad announced here Friday.

Ganga, who became captain after Ramnaresh Sarwan sustained a tour-ending shoulder injury in the side's record innings and 283 run defeat in the second Test at Headingley, will depart after the fourth and final Test here at Riverside.

Also leaving are fast bowlers Corey Collymore and Jerome Taylor, who both played during the World Cup in the Caribbean, and batsman Sylvester Joseph.

Ganga, who has only played seven one-day internationals in nearly five years, had been reported to be the favourite of the West Indies Cricket Board executive committee to captain the limited-overs side, with the selectors favouring fellow opening batsman Gayle.

Lendl Simmons and Dwayne Smith will join the squad after the fourth Test, where play was delayed on the first day here Friday because of rain.

Austin Richards, a 23-year-old left-handed batsman from Antigua, has received his first international call-up.

He impressed in first-class domestic cricket where, in the 2006-07 season, he scored 183 for the Leeward Islands against the Windward Islands.

West Indies, now 2-0 down in the four-match Test series, play England in back-to-back Twenty20 matches at The Oval on June 28 and June 29 before facing their hosts in three one-day internationals in the first week of July.

They then go to Ireland where they will feature in a four-nation tournament also including Scotland and the Netherlands.

West Indies Twenty20 and one-day squad:

Chris Gayle (capt), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith, Austin Richards Jr.

Fixtures

June 28: 1st Twenty20 v England, The Oval

June 29: 2nd Twenty20 v England, The Oval

July 01: 1st ODI v England, Lord's

July 04: 2nd ODI v England, Edgbaston

July 07: 3rd ODI v England, Trent Bridge

July 10: ODI v Netherlands, Dublin

July 12: ODI v Scotland, Dublin

July 14: ODI v Ireland, Dublin