Fidel Edwards to make his debut

Fidel Edwards, the 21-year-old fast bowler from Barbados, was named in the XI to take on Sri Lanka in the second Test, which starts on Friday at Sabina Park, Kingston. Edwards, who has played just one first-class match for Barbados, will make his debut on a pitch which is expected to offer plenty of support to the fast bowlers.

The half-brother of Pedro Collins, Edwards's slinging round-arm action has been compared to Jeff Thomson's, and his inswinging yorkers have reminded talent-spotters of Waqar Younis in his pomp. Edwards was named the Most Improved Bowler in the Shell Cricket Academy, Grenada. Dr Rudi Webster, the Academy Director, has rated him among the most disciplined players to have attended the academy.

The squad announced by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) had two other Barbadian quick bowlers, Corey Collymore and Vasbert Drakes. Merv Dillon was dropped, after going wicketless in the rain-hit first Test at St Lucia.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan team are all set to ring in the changes after their disappointing performance in the first Test. Poor fielding, the absence of another back-up bowler and the inability of the top-order batsmen to get runs once they had settled in, all contributed to West Indies gaining the upperhand at St Lucia.

Duleep Mendis, the interim coach, said that with the pitch here expected to assist fast bowlers, Sri Lanka would definitely opt for a third seamer at the expense of a batsman. Darshana Gamage is likely to win the third-seamer's spot ahead of the inexperienced left-arm seamer Thilan Thushara, while Thilan Samaraweera will probably be dropped. Samaraweera did not impress much in his 109 minutes at the wicket for 11 runs and Brian Lara took him to the cleaners in his eight overs of gentle offspin, which cost him 53 runs.

The other area of concern is the wicketkeeping of Romesh Kaluwitharana, who found out just how costly it could be to offer Lara a second chance. Kaluwitharana missed a stumping opportunity off Muttiah Muralitharan on the fifth morning when Lara was on 93. Lara ended up scoring his fifth double-century, and his fifth hundred in seven Tests against Sri Lanka. Kaluwitharana has been in reasonable form with the bat though - his failure in St Lucia was the result of a poor decision - and that might save him from getting the axe.

The West Indian batting revolves largely around Lara. Their total of 477 was largely made up of two partnerships totalling 310 runs which involved Lara. His mastery of Muralitharan is another cause for worry for Tillakaratne.

Lara has called for a result-oriented pitch and the inclusion of an additional pace bowler to the West Indies squad at the expense of a wicketkeeper-batsman clearly indicates that the pitch will assist the quick bowlers. If that is the case, Sri Lanka have a more penetrative attack to exploit the wicket. Vaas bowled superbly - but without much luck - on the placid pitch at St Lucia, while Prabath Nissanka is perhaps the quickest bowler Sri Lanka have had since Dilhara Fernando.

Lara has admitted that his team's bowling was a continuing worry. "We need to start getting 20 wickets in Test matches consistently. That's what we are looking for, the right combination and the right set of guys to take West Indies into the future. Fidel falls into that category."

The Test also brings together Muralitharan and Australian umpire Darrell Hair for the first time in a Test since Hair called Muralitharan for chucking at Melbourne in 1995. Hair did officiate in Sri Lanka's VB Series matches last year, though.

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Brian Lara (capt), 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 7 Omari Banks, 8 Vasbert Drakes, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Corey Collymore, 11 Fidel Edwards.

Sri Lanka (from) Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Prabath Nissanka, Darshana Gamage.

Umpires Darrell Hair (Aus) and Russell Tiffin (Zim)

Match Referee Wasim Raja (Pak)