MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC) - Batting kingpin Brian Lara has been named vice-captain of the ICC World XI for the 2007 ICC Super Series of matches against Australia. World XI Team Director Sunil Gavaskar confirmed the appointment of Lara, who replaces India star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who withdrew after undergoing elbow surgery. "We are very pleased to have nominated Brian as our vice-captain," remarked Gavaskar, a former India captain, in an ICC news release. "He has tremendous experience and will be able to provide invaluable support to our captain Shaun Pollock." Lara said he was delighted to have been handed the responsibility. "I am honoured to have been asked to take on the role of vice-captain," he said. "I look forward to helping Shaun over the coming days, as we look to gel together as a unit in time for the first limited-overs match against Australia on Wednesday." Meantime, Ian Chappell, the former Australian captain, has questioned the choice of Graeme Smith as captain of the World XI for the Super Test against Australia at Sydney. Smith has been named captain for the six-day match that starts on October 14, but Chappell is not convinced about his leadership skills. "To beat Australia, the opposing captain has to be prepared to attack, and use his initiative, as Michael Vaughan so expertly displayed in the recent Ashes series, and on what I have seen so far, this is beyond Smith," Chappell wrote in a column which appeared in Sunday Mid Day, a Mumbai-based tabloid. "What makes Smith a terrific opening batsman is also what holds his captaincy back. He has tunnel vision when he bats, and is able to concentrate purely on what he does well. However, he employs this same narrow vision to his captaincy and appears to lack imagination. "Traditionally South African captains lack understanding when it comes to the value of spin bowlers. They tend to rely heavily on fast and seam bowlers, especially when the match is tight. "At the SCG, spin bowling could play a big part in deciding the Super Test, and the World XI has a destructive pair in Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori. However, both need to be employed as attacking weapons against Australia, not just as run-stoppers." Reprinted from jamaica-observer.com