West Indies start as favourites

West Indies will be looking to consolidate on the gains from the Australian series when they clash against Sri Lanka in the first of three one-day internationals on Saturday. Despite a poor start to the Test and the one-dayers against Australia, West Indies ended both series on a positive note, winning the final Test and the last three ODIs.

Brian Lara was confident that West Indies would win the series if they maintained the same form they showed against Australia. "Sri Lanka are not as strong as Australia," he told reporters, "although of course they have a couple of match winners, but we are looking to keep up the standard we achieved in the last three one-day games.

"If we don't drop our standards, we're going to get more success against teams of lesser ability than Australia. We've proved that we can be competitive, but we've to maintain it. Now we know where we stand."

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have suffered a slump in form since reaching the semi-final of the World Cup. They failed to qualify for the finals in two successive tournaments - at Sharjah in April, and then in the Bank Alfalah Cup at home last month, when Pakistan and New Zealand contested the final.

The captain-coach combination of Sanath Jayasuriya and Dav Whatmore was disturbed as well, with Jayasuriya stepping down from captaincy and Whatmore moving on to coach Bangladesh. Marvan Atapattu, who took over the reins from Jayasuriya, admitted that West Indies were favourites.

"They are playing at home and their morale is high. The West Indies are favourites, but it's better for us to start as underdogs," he said. "We are rebuilding our squad, but we'll play positive cricket." Atapattu would be encouraged by Sri Lanka's recent results against West Indies, though. West Indies have only won one out of their last four ODIs against Sri Lanka.

West Indies brought in fast bowler Darren Powell into their 15-man squad for the first two ODIs as a replacement for the injured Jermaine Lawson. Lawson is struggling to recover from the back injury he sustained during the Antigua Test against Australia. Allrounder Ryan Hurley was named in the squad after recovering from a shoulder injury.

The first two matches will be played at the Kensington Oval over the weekend, while the third will be held at St Vincent on June 11. The one-day series will be followed by two Test matches.

Squads
West Indies Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Omari Banks, David Bernard Jr, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ryan Hurley, Ridley Jacobs, Daren Powell, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith.

Sri Lanka Marvan Atapattu (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Koushalya Lokuarachchi, Kumar Dharmasena, Prabath Nissanka, Upul Chandana, Darshana Gamage, Dinusha Fernando, Naveed Nawaz.