Sports Digest: Ramnaresh Sarwan has been appointed West Indies captain following the retirement of Brian Lara, the West Indies cricket board (WICB) have said.
"I think the selectors felt that his knowledge of the game (went in his favour)," chief executive Bruce Aanensen said.
"They also felt that the opportunities he had to lead the team on the field, they were very impressed with that and those are two very important criteria.
"Those mainly were the two things that swung in his favour. (He also) has the respect of the players," Aanensen added.
The 26-year-old right-handed batsmen from Guyana had been widely tipped to take the job for the tour of England starting with the first Test on May 17th.
The selection panel, headed by former West Indies opening batsman Gordon Greenidge, recommended Sarwan to replace Lara who quit international cricket after the recent World Cup.
Carnoustie still nasty
The men who run the British Open golf championship insisted it is not their intention to make the world's best players suffer at Carnoustie in July like they did in 1999. "We are not seeking carnage," said Royal and Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson. "We are seeking an arena where the players can display their skills to the best effect."
But before anybody starts to think that this summer will see birdies and eagles galore on the Scottish links - dubbed "Car-nasty" eight years ago - there are still some chilling facts.
At 7,421 yards the course will play 60 yards longer than last time. That makes it the longest in Open history - just 24 yards shorter than Augusta was for the Masters a month ago and only 140 yards less than the major record set by Medinah for last year's US PGA championship.
In 1999, some of the fiercest rough ever seen left the 156-strong field an amazing 3,746 over par for the week.
Navan tops of towns
Navan sealed the Provincial Towns Cup by defeating Skerries 14-3 at Cill Dara RFC on Sunday afternoon.
It was their ninth victory in the competition and they now lie third in the roll of honour behind Co Carlow and the defeated finalists Skerries.
Skerries led 3-0 at the interval after a penalty from Dermot O'Neill in the fifth minute and the north Dublin outfit dominated the opening quarter. But as the half developed, Navan got into the game more and after the break Ryan Roberts linked well with his backline to give Killian Kennedy the chance to touch down.
It was total domination and Roberts kicked three penalties in the closing minutes to seal the win. Try scorer Kennedy was named the man of the match.
Dundalk RFC lifted the Anderson Cup which preceded the Towns Cup final. The Louth outfit defeated Enniscorthy 17-15 after surviving a late onslaught.
