Crunch time for Windies
By Orin Davidson
Stabroek News
April 1, 2007
Football or cricket? Photographer Lawrence Fanfair yesterday caught the West Indies cricket team going through their paces during a net session at the Guyana National Stadium, ahead of their must win CWC 2007 Super Eight Match against Sri Lanka today at t
West Indies have reverted to the drawing board and are digging deep in their resources to end their World Cup Super Eight woes.
For their vital clash against Sri Lanka today at the National Stadium, the home team has been knocking heads in a series of meetings, including an unprecedented general caucus among all team members following their two dreadful losses to Australia and New Zealand.
"We had a couple of meetings of the entire team, that were very fruitful, a few things have been aired," the captain explained yesterday at the National Stadium at Providence.
With West Indies yet to make a mark in the Super Eight winners column, a victory today is badly needed to keep their campaign alive and Lara hinted they intend to utilize all the time that remained to fine-tune tactics leading to today's showdown.
"We have 24 hours to decide on a team and the tactics we want to go out in the middle with", he said, adding that many ideas were aired from the meetings that made his players upbeat and focused to reach the semi-finals and final.
Although the decision to pack the side with batsmen at the expense of bowlers for the last game against New Zealand was heavily criticized, Lara hinted that the conditions at Providence might make it difficult for them to change that policy.
"Looking at the pitch out there it reminds me of Bourda and from television it doesn't seem much different," he said insinuating that the strip to be used might not be helpful to bowlers.
At the same time Lara explained that Sri Lanka's batting is a weakness they would be zeroing in on.
"Their batting must be something to be concerned about," he said while pointing out that Sri Lanka's bowling is an asset.
But based on West Indies' last two batting displays, they have a huge challenge facing up to a very efficient Sri Lanka attack.
Apart from Lara, West Indies have had few answers in countering the wiles of off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in the past. And who knows, "Murli" might find the Providence strip much to his liking if Lara is correct in his assessment of its likeness to Bourda.
Yet the challenge should bring out the best Chris Gayle, whose returns have been well below par throughout the competition. Also for Guyana stars Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who are accustomed to performing well before home crowds. But they might find the pitch conditions more alien than their opponents who at least have had one game on it.
The two are yet to lay bat on one ball there.
One man who has found the conditions to his liking is Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga who team coach Tom Moody feels is a trump card, following his exploits against South Africa in the first game at Providence.
"He's a match-winner. If you look at it realistically, he bowled poorly for six overs in that match, but came back and bowled well for three, referring to the paceman's awesome four-ball four- wicket haul in their losing effort last Tuesday. "We're working on those six overs now and bottling the confidence of the three overs he bowled well at the end".
But the former Australia player notes with concern his team's poor batting display in that match, adding that they will need their `A' game to come out on top.
"We're looking for a helluva lot better batting from the top end. Now is a good time for your top order to be peaking," he said referring specifically to Mahala Jayawardene 's poor form'. "He's a very fine player and hopefully he'll play that match-winning knock against West Indies."
Moody though is confident they can work on weaknesses observed in the home team's game and does not mind if an expected sell out crowd will be out rallying round the Windies.
"I'm sure there's going to be a rally of support for the West Indies, but the crowd can't go out there and score runs or take wickets," he said. "At the end of the day, we'll just be concentrating on making sure that we get our processes right and play the cricket that we know we can play."
With both teams yet to add to the two points each they carried over from the preliminary round, fans can expect a tooth and nail battle.
Lara surmised it appropriately, "It's gonna be a tough game and I think the better team will win."
And with all his accomplishments, all his experience, he will have to soften the task for his men by leading from the front.
West Indies: from- Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Shiv Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor, Ian Bradshaw, Daren Powell, Corey Collymore, Devon Smith, Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard.
Sri Lanka: from Mahela Jayawardene, Kumara Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara and Russel Arnold.