Sri Lanka aim to put West Indies in a spin

Sri Lanka may have put their faith in pace against India but their strategy has changed for the West Indies Test series and the selectors have picked three spinners for the first Test starting next week in Galle.

The 15-man squad, still to be confirmed by the Sports Ministry, but selected on Tuesday night after the teams return from Sharjah, includes off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, slow left-arm spinner Niroshan Bandaratillake and off-spinning all-rounder Thilan Samaraweera. All are expected to play on a pitch that traditionally favours spin.

The decision forced hasty changes to the Sri Lanka A side to take on the West Indies at Matara on Thursday. Clearly trying to reduce the tourist's exposure to spin in their last warm-up game, they left out Bandaratillake and picked four fast bowlers and just one specialist spinner.

The 26-year-old Bandaratillake, who is also a useful late order batsman, has played in four Tests, having made his debut against New Zealand in 1997. He grabbed 9-82 in his second game, but fell out of favour and has not played since the inaugural Asian Test Championship in 1999.

The selectors have also recalled all-rounder Suresh Perera, whose bowling action has been reviewed and cleared after being by a Sri Lankan board appointed panel of bowling experts. Their final report has been already been sent to the ICC.

West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor had reported Perera's bowling action to the ICC during the first Test against India at Galle. He subsequently played in the second Test, but was dropped for the third Test and was not selected for Sharjah.

With Sri Lanka apparently set to play three spinners, Perera is unlikely to play though, especially as Thilan Samaraweera, his replacement in the SSC Test against India, scored a century on debut.

With strike bowler Dilhara Fernando injured the selectors have picked left-arm fast bowler Ruchira Perera, Charitha Buddhika Fernando and recalled Nuwan Zoysa, who has now fully recovered from ankle injury sustained before the Indian tour. With Chaminda Vaas certain to play this leaves four fast bowlers fighting for one place, with Ruchira Perera being the current front-runner.

The seven batsmen remain unchanged from Sri Lanka's last Test match against Bangladesh but, after his good form in Sharjah, Russel Arnold is set to reclaim his place after being dropped against Bangladesh in September. Left-hander Michael Vandort remains in the squad.

Arnold was due to captain the Sri Lanka A side, but with runs under his belt, the selectors retained Hashan Tillakaratne, who gets a chance to spend some time in the middle after bad weather prevented him from batting Colombo.

The first Test starts on 13 November.

Full team:

Sanath Jayasuriya (Capt), Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Kumar Sangakkara, Hashan Tillakaratne, Michael Vandort, Thilan Samaraweera, Suresh Perera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Niroshan Bandaratillake, Ruchira Perera, Chaminda Vaas, Charitha Buddhika Fernando, Nuwan Zoysa