Gayle to captain West Indies in Zimbabwe

MIAMI, Nov 19 (Reuters) Jamaican opening batsman Chris Gayle will captain the West Indies for their five one-day matches on their tour of Zimbabwe later this month.

Gayle, who took charge of the one-day team on this year's tour of England, replaces skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan who will miss the Zimbabwe tour due to injury, the West Indies Cricket Board said.

Brenton Parchment, Gayle's opening batting partner for Jamaica, is set to make his debut for the West Indies after earning his first call-up in the 15-man squad.

The 25-year-old right-hander impressed during the regional KFC Cup one-day tournament, won by Jamaica, and he will compete with Devon Smith for the opening slot with Gayle.

Former captain Clive Lloyd will manage the team on the tour where newly appointed Australian coach John Dyson will be absent.

Dyson has been given time to attend to domestic matters before joining up with the squad on the tour of South Africa and so Barbadian Henderson Springer and Trinidadian David Williams will serve as the coaches in Zimbabwe.

Leg-spinner Rawl Lewis has been given a recall to the side along with middle-order batsman Marlon Samuels but there is no place for all-rounder Dwayne Smith.

The West Indies play Zimbabwe in Harare on November 30 in the first of five one-day games.

Another squad will be announced for the subsequent tour of South Africa for three tests, five one-dayers and two Twenty20 internationals.

Squad: Chris Gayle (capt), Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Fidel Edwards, Runako Morton, Rawl Lewis, Brenton Parchment, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor.

REUTERS DKS BST0538