BRIDGETOWN (Barbados) June 6: West Indies will focus more on consolidating gains than exacting revenge when they clash with Sri Lanka in the three-match one-day cricket series starting on Saturday.
The hosts earned a lot of respect by becoming the first team since England in 1997 to inflict three successive defeats on Australia despite losing to Ricky Ponting’s side 4-3 in a recent home series.
Skipper Brian Lara, encouraged by a hat trick of wins against the World Cup champions, told his young team to maintain consistency against Sri Lanka.
“If we don’t drop our standards, we’re going to get more success against teams of lesser ability than Australia,” said Lara.
West Indies have lost three of their last four one-dayers against Sri Lanka, including a six-run defeat at the World Cup in March.
At the World Cup, West Indies failed to go past the first round while Sri Lanka qualified for the semi-finals.
The teams’ fortunes have, however, taken different courses since then.
West Indies redeemed much of their image under Lara, who took over captaincy from Carl Hooper after the World Cup.
They made history by chasing a record 418 to win fourth and final Test against Australia at Antigua and then went on to clinch last three one-dayers.
“We’ve proved that we can be competitive, but we’ve to maintain it. Now we know where we stand,” said Lara.
The gifted left-hander led from the front in both the Tests and one-dayers against Australians, making 533 runs in Test matches.
Openers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds played big roles in their team’s wins in one-dayers. Hinds emerged top-scorer with 352, followed by Gayle (275) and Lara (242).
Sri Lanka’s performance has dipped since the World Cup. They failed to qualify for finals of two successive tournaments — at Sharjah in April and then at home last month against Pakistan and New Zealand.
The team has lacked consistency since prolific batsman Aravinda de Silva retired after the World Cup, Sanath Jayasuriya resigned as captain after Sharjah and Dav Whatmore quit as coach.
Sri Lanka’s new one-day captain Marvan Atapattu conceded the West Indies were favourites.
“They are playing at home and their morale is high. West Indies are favourites, but it’s better for us to start as underdogs,” he said. “We are rebuilding our squad, but we’ll play positive cricket.”
Sri Lanka are banking on veterans Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas to stop the West Indies’ winning run.
The first two matches will be played at Kensington Oval here on Saturday and Sunday. The third will take place at St Vincent on June 11. The ODI series will be followed by two Test matches.
Sri Lanka (from): Marvan Atapattu (capt), Mahela Jayawardena (vice-capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Koushalya Lokuarachchi, Kumar Dharmasena, Prabath Nissanka, Upul Chandana, Darshana Gamage, Dinusha Fernando, Naveed Nawaz.
West Indies (from): Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-capt), Omari Banks, David Bernard Jr, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ryan Hurley, Ridley Jacobs, Daren Powell, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith.
GANGA TO LEAD
ST. JOHN’S (Antigua): West Indies Cricket Board on Friday named 13 players from which final 11 will be picked to comprise WICB President’s XI against visiting Sri Lankans in a three-day match from June 14-16 at St. Vincent.
Team:
Daren Ganga (captain), Carlton Baugh, Jr., Jason Bennett, David Bernard, Jr., Tino Best, Dwayne Bravo, Narsingh Deonarine, Ryan Hinds, Aniel Kanhai, Dave Mohammed, Daren Powell. —PPI