Pakistan face West Indies in tri-series today

Kingstown (St Vincent), April 11: The volcanic island of St. Vincent is buzzing with excitement and in anticipation of Wednesday's match between Pakistan and the West Indies in the triangular series to be played at the picturesque Arnos Vale ground.

West Indies, indeed, are on the high after their recent triumph in the two Tests and their successive wins in the inaugural matches of the one-day series against Zimbabwe.

They won the first match by 87 runs and the second by 41 runs at the Sabina Park. Which, of course, has resulted in a fresh change in the attitude of their fans who had recently been put off by the poor performance of their national team.

The sell out crowd in this tiny island would be expecting no less a performance than a win for their home team. They are also looking forward to the inclusion in the playing eleven of the local fast bowler Nixon McLean who has done well against Pakistan in the practice match on Saturday at St John's taking five wickets in Pakistan's defeat.

The scenic ground, overlooking a group of 12 islands in the sea, provides a breathtaking view. They are like a kite's tail with St. Vincent itself at head of it presenting one of the finest surrounding of a cricket ground. None of the team will, however, will be overcome by the surrounding. Their first and foremost focus will be the match itself.

West Indies, however, have performed dismally against Pakistan in recent times. In their last six one-day encounters, the West Indies has lost to Pakistan, starting from their defeat in the World Cup to Toronto and Sharjah last October.

Knocked out of the World Cup in the first round, the West Indies faltered so badly after the Singapore matches and have registered only two wins to show against 13 losses.

Their batting is not very consistent, perhaps very match like Pakistan and they will have to bat really well against Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Mohammad Akram, Abdur Razzaq and Arshad Khan who are all likely to play. On Sunday Moin Khan, Razzaq and Wasim Akram arrived here after their brief sojourn at Dhaka against the World XI.

Pakistan obviously have a much stronger team now than the one which won the match against Zimbabwe.

Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi are likely to open and Mohammad Wasim, who made a half century on Sunday against the West Indies Select XI, has also a good chance to play in case Imran Nazir is left out.

The good news is that deputy wicket-keeper Atiq-uz-Zaman, who hurt his back while attempting a catch on Sunday in the practice match at St John's, is making rapid recovery. He was taken by car from the ground and into an ambulance to the hospital with a strained ligaments of the hip and back.

Coach Javed Miandad says, "Atiq is all right, he has bruised ligaments in his back and it is not serious." "As far as the match is concerned, we are focused on it and will do our best with full team available." said Miandad.

Jimmy Adams, the West Indian captain is as much confident. "It is a big challenge for us to play against Pakistan - a very good team. We have victories under our belt and we feel a lot more confident than we were when were defeated on our recent tour of New Zealand.

Teams (from):

Pakistan: Moin Khan (captain), Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Mohammad Wasim, Wasim Akram, Abdur Razzaq, Waqar Younis, Arshad Khan, Mohammad Akram and Mushtaq Ahmed.

West Indies: Jimmy Adams (captain), Sherwin Campbell, Philo Wallace, Wavell Hinds, Christopher Gayle, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Reon King, Franklyn Rose, Nixon McLean, Curtly Ambrose, Sylvester Joseph, Laurie Williams and Nehemiah Perry.