Ramnaresh Sarwan wants to lead West Indies

St.George's (Grenada), Apr 16 (UNI) West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan has expressed his desire to lead the battered side after Brian Lara's retirement, saying ''I am willing to take on the role of skipper.'' Lara has already announced that he will retire from one-day cricket at the end of the World Cup but has declined to confirm if he will lead the Test side on the tour of England.

''If given the opportunity I will grab it with both hands,'' Sarwan told BBC.

''Whoever else captains the West Indies cricket team I will give them my full support, but if the chance comes my way I will go for it,'' Sarwan said.

It is unlikely that the West Indies Cricket Board will take any decision in a hurry and to avoid any further division in the team, it may continue with Lara as captain of the test side while naming another captain for the one day side.

Although West Indies are virtually out of the running for a semi-final spot in the World Cup, Sarwan, 26, said the remaining matches against Bangladesh and England were important in terms of morale.

''After the World Cup is over we are going to England and we need some sort of confidence and momentum,'' he said.

''We have a long tour ahead of us and so these two games are very important,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Sarwan rejected allegations that West Indies had not been fully fit for the World Cup.

''When you play badly people start to criticise different things.

''We didn't field well in Guyana [against Sri Lanka] and obviously against South Africa and that gets pinpointed when you lose. But I think the guys are fully fit and will continue to give their full efforts,'' he said.

UNI