West Indies and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 hope for some cricket as rain threatens another ODI
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 and Sri Lanka are set to lock horns in the second ODI at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo, yet for the umpteenth time this season, a match in the Pearl Island is set to be marred by rain.
The two teams played a three-match Test series last November with all three matches badly hampered by rain, resulting in a nil-nil stalemate. A similar fate met the ODI series which was put off for more than a month when the two
Boards realized that the rain was not going to subside throughout the island.
More of the same was in store in the first match of the rescheduled series. The hosts were slightly on the back-foot after the Caribbean Kings had posted a decent first innings total on the back of a maiden ODI hundred by Adrian
Barath.
However, rain poured forth during the mid-innings break and never subsided, forcing the team off the field which abandoned the match.
On the positive side, the match was a personal triumph for young Barath, who once again demonstrated that he has the potential to become the future star of the game from the West Indies. The right-hander looked composed throughout
the innings and was the cornerstone of the batting effort. He had an outstanding start to his Test career two seasons ago in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 where he scored a debut ton, but since then he had not actually availed the opportunities that came his way fully before
the hundred.
The West Indian coach, former fast bowler Otis Gibson, praised his innings as well as the partnership with Ramnaresh Sarwan, which held the innings together.
Sarwan, who was making a comeback to International cricket after a long layoff due to various reasons, was the support that Barath needed and the two steadily took their team to a fighting total on a tricky wicket.
Gibson feels that the combination of youth and experience in the middle is the way forward for his team.
"The partnership was fantastic for us and that is the kind of approach we will need in the future going forward - with our senior players guiding our younger players. It was great to see. In tough situations we need them to get
us to match-winning totals and ultimately win matches for us."
The last two matches of the series provide an opportunity to the teams to finalize their plans for the World Cup as well as the chance of testing their best combinations in the given situation. West Indies and Sri Lanka are placed
in different pools yet can face each other in the knockout stages of the event which would follow the opening round of matches.
Moreover, the persistent rains are a real cause of concern for both the Sri Lankan Board and the ICC. The two bodies hope that the rain gods take a breather during the coveted tournament that is set to run for more than 40 days
in the Subcontinent.
West Indies (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Carlton-Baugh-c49264, 10 Nikita Miller,
11 Kemar Roach.
Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Mahela Jayawardene, 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Lasith
Malinga, 11 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157.
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