Leicestershire weighing options after Sarwan call-up

Leicester, Jan 21 (IANS/CMC):

Leicestershire are unnerved by Ramnaresh Sarwan‘s selection for the West Indies’ upcoming tour of Australia and plans to speak to the right-hander about his availability during the upcoming English county season.

Sarwan was so influential on and off the pitch during his debut season last year that the club signed him up for another two years and only last month named as captain to replace veteran Matthew Hoggard, reports CMC.

However, with Sarwan ending his near 19-month exile from West Indies with a call up to next month’s limited overs series, Leicestershire say they will now seek clarity on the Guyanese’s future.

“We will be making contact with Ramnaresh to see where this might lead to. At this moment, the question of how it might affect us during the season is a bit unanswerable,” said Leicestershire head coach Phil Whitticase.

“We are really pleased for him because we know that he has been striving to play for the West Indies again. He still has that passion and drive and we want all our players to play at the highest level. From our point of view, it does leave us a bit vulnerable and looking to come up with a Plan B.”

Leicestershire will explore their options of a replacement in coming days, in the event Sarwan becomes unavailable for portions of the season.

Their worry is that West Indies will have a packed schedule this year. Zimbabwe arrive in the Caribbean for two Tests, three One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20s and will be followed by the ICC Champions Trophy in England from June 6-23.

The Windies will then host a Tri-Nation Series involving India and Sri Lanka scheduled for June 28 to July 11 before Pakistan arrive for a Test and one-day series.