West Indies seek to avert Sri Lankan whitewash in Colombo

Two Tests down and the series lost, West Indian captain Carl Hooper is looking for his top-order to finally gel in the third Test in Colombo starting Thursday, as the tourists try to avert the ignominy of a series whitewash in Sri Lanka.

Brian Lara apart, the West Indies have failed to come to terms with the mysterious wiles of off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 21 wickets in the first two Tests, and have been bowled out for less than 200 on three occasions.

"We have all struggled apart from Brian (Lara)," Hooper said. "We are up against a good side and world-class spinner who has put us under a lot of pressure."

"Each and every batsman, from number one to eleven, has got to find a way of putting a good score together."

West Indies have consistently collapsed whenever Lara has been dismissed. In Galle the last five wickets produced just 38 runs in both innings and in Kandy they only mustered 24 in the first innings and 64 in the second.

But Hooper, speaking after the team's final practice, believes the top six have to take responsibility. "The lower order did quite well in the South African and the Zimbabwean series, but not here. It is an area that we have to look at, but the priority is for the top five or six to click."

He added: "We have had a few half-centuries, but to be successful we need big hundreds with the others chipping in. We need to be consistently putting together scores in excess of 400."

There is unlikely to be an emotional rallying call from the captain in the team meeting later tonight. The calm 34-year-old Guyanan is beating a pragmatic drum with one eye on the future.

"We have some good players but in terms of experience we are very short, which is plays a big part when you come and play in places like Sri Lanka," he said.

"We have got a lot of young guys and Muralitharan has been a shock to them. If they come again, with greater experience, whilst they still may not be able to pick him, they may have devised a way to be more successful against him."

Nevertheless, he feels that the West Indies are not so far behind the hosts: "I think if we can raise our game by 15-20% then that would make us competitive against the Sri Lankans. They are not as good a side as South Africa and so on."

Indeed, Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya admits that his side is still too reliant on Muralitharan: "We need more support for Murali. Chaminda Vaas has been bowling really well but we lack an extra spinner at the moment. We have tried a few but unfortunately none of them are in the class of Murali."

Sri Lanka, though, are going to give left-arm spinner Niroshan Bandaratillake a further chance, believing that he offers greater potential than other contenders. It marks a welcome development. With the side enjoying unprecedented success, the up-an-coming players are at last to be given a decent chance to perform.

The selectors faith extends to Russel Arnold, who has had a torrid run with the bat. On the basis of statistics (his average has now dropped from 40 to 27.37 in his last 20 Tests) he should have long since been discarded. But team success allows the selectors to persevere with him, at least until the end of the Zimbabwe tour.

"We need people like Russel (Arnold) to score runs," Jayasuriya said. "He has been going through a bad patch, but we have to keep pursuing with him as he has a lot of talent and potential. He is a good player and a team man; I am sure that he will come good."

Sri Lanka are therefore likely to pick the same side that won in Kandy, even though the pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club traditionally offers the faster bowlers greater assistance than in Galle and Kandy.

West Indies are considering one possible change: the inclusion of fast bowler Marlon Black in place of Colin Stuart.

Likely teams:

Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela ,Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillakaratne, Thilan Samaraweera, Chaminda Vaas, Niroshan Bandaratillake, Muttiah Muralithathan, Nuwan Zoysa

West Indies: Carl Hooper (capt), Daren Ganga, Chris ,Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Dinanath Ramnarine, Marlon Samuels