CASTRIES, St. Lucia — Ramnaresh Sarwan is relieved to be back in the West Indies team for the limited-over cricket tour of Australia at the end of the month. Sarwan was named in a 15-man squad which also included a recall for left-handed batsman Narsingh Deonarine, who last played for West Indies in June 2010. Sarwan, whose 173 One-Day International matches trail only Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle in the squad, last wore the maroon jersey in June 2011. Since then he's revealed he won $161,000 in damages from the West Indies Cricket Board for casting doubts on his fitness when his central contract wasn't renewed in 2010. “I'm happy to be back in the team,” he said Wednesday. “Obviously I've been out for a while, but it feels really good to be back representing the West Indies. I am really looking forward to this tour and I'm confident things will go well for us in Australia.” Sarwan averages 44 in ODIs, but 47 in Australia. “As a team we like the ball when it comes onto the bat so we should enjoy the conditions in Australia,” he said. The team arrives in Australia on Jan. 26, plays a warm-up one-dayer three days later in Canberra, then five one-dayers and a Twenty20 from Feb. 1-13. The squad: West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Bravo, Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Narsingh Deonarine, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Thomas. Warne faces new ban Australian veteran Shane Warne is facing a new ban for an alleged breach of the spirit of the game in a domestic Twenty20 match, Cricket Australia said Thursday. The bowling great apologized last week after a foul-mouthed rant against West Indian all-rounder Marlon Samuels that earned him a ban and a fine in Australia's Big Bash League. But in Wednesday night's semifinal Warne, the official Melbourne Stars skipper, was not listed as captain for the match they lost against Perth Scorchers. Cricket Australia said they had recently sent a memo to BBL teams about the captaincy role. “If a team's official captain is selected but not named as captain, this will be considered against the spirit of cricket and may attract a code of behaviour charge,” CA said. “Warne has been reported for breaching CA's code of behavior,” it said. — Agencies
