Llyod tips Sarwan for Windies captaincy

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 18 (UNI) Dependable middle-order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan emerged as the frontrunner to replace Brian Lara as West Indies captain with team manager and former skipper Clive Lloyd tipping him for the top job.

Lara has announced his retirement from one-day cricket after the Caribbeans failed to progress beyond the Super Eights stage of the World Cup and there have been widespread calls for Lara to pass on the reigns to another player.

''The two names that are on the lips of everybody are Ramnaresh Sarwan and Daren Ganga.

''Sarwan should probably be frontrunner because he has been frontrunner. These are the only two names that would be in the running at the moment,'' Lloyd told reporters today.

In what would be Lara's last two one-dayers, the West Indies play Bangladesh and England tomorrow and On April 21 respectively, but they will have no bearing on the tournament as the semi-final lineup has been completed following South Africa's crushing nine-wicket win over England.

A distraught Lloyd admitted that the West Indies had a lot of catching up to do with other teams and admitted that ''we are scraping the barrel here''.

''When you look at the other countries, they are way ahead of us in everything, technology, play...'' the two-time World Cup winning captain said.

''We are all disappointed (with World Cup results) and we can only hope that the team gets better as time goes on.

''I have only been with the team for a few months and we have tried to get some things right and we know we can get a few right, but it will take some time.

Technology is the way to go and the board will have to take these things on board as we move forward,'' he said.

Llyod said the West Indies had not embraced several developments in the modern game due to lack of funding which put the team at a disadvantage when it takes the field.

'We need to embrace those things and look at what the other teams are doing. At the moment we are not as fortunate we need to have sponsors and need to explain to them why we need the money liyod said.'' UNI