The Hindu : Sport : Windies campaign hangs in the balance

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Windies campaign hangs in the balance

Conditions at the Providence Stadium favour Sri Lanka

— PHOTO: AP

FEELING THE PINCH: Brian Lara and West Indies have found the going tough in the Super Eight stage and would be hoping for a turnaround on Sunday.

ST. JOHN'S: Brian Lara is desperate to save the West Indies' World Cup campaign, which hinges on Sunday's Super Eight match against Sri Lanka.

Victories are imperative now for the West Indies, champion in the first two editions of the World Cup and hosting the quadrennial tournament for the first time.

After topping Group `D' with three wins, Brian Lara's men have suffered heavy losses to Australia and New Zealand in Antigua and must beat Sri Lanka in Guyana to retain any chance of making the semifinals.

Desperate times

``This is a really desperate time for us — we're down to the fighting part of the tournament now,'' Lara said. ``We've got four games to go and we have to win them all to qualify.''

Sri Lanka had convincing wins over India, Bangladesh and Bermuda to top Group `B', then lost by a wicket to top-ranked South Africa after Lasith Malinga inspired a thrilling comeback here on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said his team was well below its best against South Africa. But it could draw positives out of the result after coming within inches of an unlikely win with Malinga's unprecedented four wickets in four deliveries.

``It was definitely a game for us to win. But the way we played we never had a chance of winning except for that last burst from Malinga,'' Jayawardene said. ``The good thing is, we know exactly where we have to improve.''

The West Indies has lots of room for improvement.

The host was bowled out for 177 in the 45th over on Thursday and New Zealand reached the target with more than 10 overs to spare.

Onus on batsmen

Lara has blamed his batsmen for not posting big enough totals, and urged them to concentrate on building an innings.

``We're not scoring significant numbers of runs, we've not made 250 in any of our five World Cup matches so far,'' Lara said. ``We need to apply ourselves and need to keep the belief in our ability. The guys need to be told that we've not batted well.

``If we've got to win the World Cup, more than two or three guys have to get runs.''

Lara said he'd compromised his position in the order to accommodate other batsmen. He might be considering a move back up the order to ensure the West Indies gets away to a decent start rather than worry about wobbles in the middle-order.

The low and slow conditions at the Providence Stadium are, for the Sri Lankans, like playing at home.

Muttiah Muralitharan took three wickets against South Africa, Sanath Jayasuriya troubled some of the batsmen and Malinga was almost unplayable when he got the old ball to reverse swing in the dying overs.

Staying positive

Jayawardene said there was no reason to think the narrow loss would haunt his line-up. Instead, he thought it would give Sri Lanka more resolve.

He said the West Indies was under serious pressure in a must-win situation, which also gave Sri Lanka an edge.

``For us it's another game, another chance to get two points,'' he said after a practice session in Georgetown on Friday.

The teams (from): Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (Capt.), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan and Malinga Bandara.

West Indies: Brian Lara (Capt.), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Ian Bradshaw, Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor, Denesh Ramdin, Devon Smith, Lendl Simmons, Daren Powell and Kieron Pollard.

Umpires: Mark Benson (Eng) and Daryl Harper (Aus).

Third umpire: Simon Taufel (Aus); Reserve umpire: Steve Bucknor (WI)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ). — Agencies

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