West Indies coach Ottis Gibson is pleased to have the team's batting strengthened by the return of Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle, as they bid to extend their winning run in Test cricket. West Indies will take on Zimbabwe in the first of two Tests in Barbados from Tuesday, and if they win the match they would have won five Tests in a row for the first time since 1988-89.
"Having Marlon back is great news for us. The injury was unfortunate, but he has been a big player for us in the last 12 months or so, the main batsman in all formats," Gibson said. "Chris is a quality player, we have no doubt he will perform for us. He has done it many times before and we know he will be confident going into this series."
Talking about the make-up of the squad, Gibson pointed out that since the batting line-up is a "settled" one, there is no place for veteran batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan at the moment despite the form he showed in the second ODI against Zimbabwe. He is being given time to prove - through his domestic form - that he deserves a spot in the Test line-up, Gibson said. "If you look at the batting at the moment, the line up seems to be settled. We played five batsmen in Bangladesh and made a lot of runs. It's hard to fit him in but at the same time we know his quality.
"At the moment, for him, it's just about getting back and getting confident, and once he gets used to getting runs again in regional cricket … I would like to think that once there is a spot available, he would find himself in that spot".
Sarwan made a comeback for West Indies in February, on the limited-overs tour of Australia, after 18 months away due to issues with the team management.
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