COLOMBO-With their eyes already firmly fixed on their pending World Cup campaign, West Indies will search for a confidence-boosting win when they face Sri Lanka in the final One-Day International of their three-match series today. The Caribbean side looked impressive in the first game which finished in a no-result a week ago after rain intervened but lost the second last Thursday following a lacklustre display. A win today, however, is likely to put the Windies in the right frame of mind heading into the Cricket World Cup which bowls off across Asia from February 19 to April 2. "Both teams are using this series as preparation for the World Cup and we have indentified the areas we need to improve in if we are going to challenge for the World Cup," captain Darren Sammy said.
"Like any other team, there are some areas where we are strong and there are some areas we need to get better at, so planning will be very important in the coming days. "Overall it comes down to how we execute and we want to make sure we put in the correct amount of planning, attention to detail, and preparation to be sharp and ready when the World Cup starts." West Indies have been grouped with the likes of pre-tournament favourites India, dark horses South Africa, England, Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands, in what is expected to be a tough campaign.
They will remain in Colombo for warm-up matches against Kenya next Saturday and against Sri Lanka on February 15th, before travelling to New Delhi for their opening game against South Africa on February 24th.
Sammy said West Indies were determined to beat Sri Lanka today and enter their World Cup warm-up matches on a high. (CMC)
Teams
• SRI LANKA – Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Mahela Jayawardene, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chamara Silva, Thisara Perera, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis.
• WEST INDIES – Darren Sammy (captain), Chris Gayle, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Carlton Baugh, Sulieman Benn, Kemar Roach, Nikita Miller, Andre Russell, Devon Smith, Ravi Rampaul.