November 25, 2007	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 14, 1428

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Nov 24: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has been named vice-captain for the tour of Zimbabwe in spite of his lack of leadership experience with his native Trinidad and Tobago.

Bravo will be the second-in-command under Chris Gayle, who is a stand-in captain in Ramnaresh Sarwan’s absence.

Bravo, whose captaincy experience is restricted to a trial match held in Trinidad recently, acknowledged that he didn’t expect the selection, however, was positive to face the challenge.

“It is really a great feeling to be given the vice-captaincy,” Bravo was quoted as saying in the Trinidad Guardian. “I never thought that this would come my way at such a young age but it has and I intend to give it my best shot. Gayle can expect 100% support from me on and off the field of play.”

Hailing Gayle’s appointment as captain, Bravo said that Gayle had the ability to get the best out of the players. Gayle led the West Indies to a 2-1 win against England in the ODIs after a poor Test series earlier this year.

“Gayle has a great record as captain and the players respect him,” Bravo stated. “He has the backing of the guys and he gets them to perform.

I personally have a lot of respect for him and he also respects me and knows what I stand for. I think we have good camaraderie going between us and this will only help the team.”

Though the West Indians are returning after a lay-off since the Twenty20 World Championship in September, Bravo expected the squad to gain the tempo quickly. The all-rounder was confident about his individual form as well, after a satisfying outing in the KFC Cup.

“Physically and mentally I am feeling great and during the KFC Cup and the camp I was hitting the ball well and also bowling good spells.

This gives me a lot of confidence going into the series.—Agencies