Lankans offer WI tough tune-up

SHENLEY: With precious little time and opportunity to prepare for the Test series —  in stark contrast to previous tours of England —  West Indies take on an in-form Sri Lanka A-Team in their final tune-up before the first Test at Lord’s mindful that there is much improvement to be made on the evidence of their last match. The three-day encounter starts today at the Denis Compton Oval in Shenley Park, an infrequently used ground north of London. The West Indies were scheduled to play Middlesex in a limited-overs fixture at the same venue prior to the start of the NatWest Series almost four weeks ago, but torrential rain prevented a ball from being bowled. Only three First-Class matches have been played previously at the venue and local knowledge suggests that the pitch will be generally slow, although there is expected to be some assistance for the faster bowlers, especially if the forecast of overcast skies and rain over the next two days are proven correct.

Coming on the heels of a less than convincing 29-run victory over an MCC XI at Arundel, the Caribbean side could find the Sri Lankans to be just as much of a handful and it is unlikely that captain Brian Lara will venture to question the competitiveness of the opposition as he did after the first day of the MCC XI fixture. Despite the persistent bad weather and bitterly cold conditions, Sri Lanka-A have opened their tour impressively, winning seven limited-over matches in succession, although the longer version of the game presents a very different challenge. The team that extended  that winning streak with victory over Kent on Wednesday included five players with senior international experience. Leg-spin bowler Kaushal Lokuarachchi played one of his four Tests against West Indies in St Lucia last year, while medium-fast bowler Thilan Thushara’s only Test so far was the second and final match of that brief series in which West Indies completed a seven-wicket victory on the third afternoon in Kingston.

Left-handed middle-order batsman Jehan Mubarak and wicketkeeper-batsman Prasanna Jayawardene have played both Tests and limited-overs internationals, while medium-pacer Nuwan Kulasekara has featured in five limited-overs internationals for Sri Lanka. Even those who are generally of unknown quantities for West Indies will have to be first observed closely, as the country’s academy has acquired a reputation in recent years of producing a succession of quality players, even if they haven’t all gone on to establish themselves in the senior side. But whatever the pedigree of the opposition, West Indies have their own headaches with less than a week to go before they take on England at the spiritual headquarters of the game. The last time they met at Lord’s 11 days ago, the visitors sped to victory in a high-scoring NatWest Series duel.

The composition and attitude of the home side for the start of their defence of the Wisden Trophy is expected to be very different, coming on the heels of successive 3-0 Test series wins over West Indies in the Caribbean and New Zealand at home. Of the established batsmen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been woefully out of form and his lack of confidence was patently obvious in scores of nought and ten against the MCC. Given the general inexperience of the squad, it is unthinkable that West Indies will start the series without the doughty left-hander, but he will need to get some runs under his belt over the next three days to regain some degree of self-belief. Having been rested for the match at Arundel, vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan will be looking to get back into stride after a consistent run of scores in the NatWest Series and could also be handed the reins of captaincy if Lara chooses to sit out his first match of the tour.

While the feeling is that Dwayne Bravo will be vying with Dwayne Smith for the lone position available in the middle-order, Sylvester Joseph should be given the opportunity to try and make an impression and give the selectors the sort of dilemma they would not mind having. In the bowling department, Fidel Edwards looked short of work against the MCC XI and should be expected to have another lengthy workout in tandem with fellow Barbadian fast bowler Tino Best, who, as usual, is eager to make an impression after missing out on the Arundel match. The fitness of Ravi Rampaul remains a concern. The 19-year-old fast bowler has been fitted with the prescribed orthotics and a supporting brace to ease the pain of shin splints, but a visit to a podiatrist yesterday was expected to clarify whether he should continue on the tour or return home.

Squads:
WEST INDIES (probable): Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sylvester Joseph, Dwayne Bravo, Ridley Jacobs, Omari Banks, Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Pedro Collins.

SRI LANKA-A (probable): Prasanna Jayawardene (captain), Gayan Wijekoon, Shontha Kalavitigoda, Ian Daniel, Jehan Mubarak, Bathiya Perera, Malintha Gajanayake, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suraj Mohamed. (CMC)