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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka find themselves overwhelming favourites to win the LG Abans one-day day-night triangular final against the West Indies at the R.

Premadasa Stadium today despite Carl Hooper's belief that his side can upset the odds.

"Our confidence is very high after beating West Indies at Kandy and we are all looking forward to tomorrow's final," said a confident Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya.

"It's a big loss for West Indies without Brian Lara, but we can't take things lightly just because he is not there. West Indies have batsmen like Hooper, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Daren Ganga and Chris Gayle who are in good form.

We expect a tough game tomorrow," said Jayasuriya.

"Our first priority was to come into the final and then perform well in it.

The batsmen and the bowlers have done the hard work to come into the final and they want to finish it off on a high note. Everybody is keen to do well," he said. Jayasuriya said that with the exception of a few faults where the bowlers had not been up to the mark at times and a batting failure against the West Indies in the first match, all the batsmen and bowlers were in good nick.

"I think we are on the right path and going in the correct direction," said Jayasuriya.

Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore said the players will have to cope with the tag of favourites and the expectations were high for them to win, particularly at home. "They will have to cop it if they don't perform," said Whatmore.

"I am looking forward to the players to perform in the way they can in the finals. I think we can consider ourselves the favourites going into the finals," said Whatmore.

"We have done more than enough to earn the right to play in the final and having done that and as a result of the games that we've played, I think we know we have every right to feel confident," he said.

"As a player when you begin a match the worst scenario possible to think is to undermine the opposition at the start of a game. The end result may suggest otherwise. I tell you, you cannot take anything lightly particularly in the final.

"Having said that, the results may indicate that the teams are a little bit lopsided. But I'll tell you from a professional player's point of view, that's the furthest from the players' minds when they start a match," Whatmore said.

Whatmore said Lara's absence was more similar to the absence of Sachin Tendulkar in the previous tournament.

"Lara has come and dominated in the way that not many batsmen have done when on tour. So obviously, he will be missed. But on the other hand, we have always seen evidence that when a star player like that is for some reason unable to play in a match, the changes of the others supporting that absence and playing above themselves and making bigger contributions to cover that absence.

"We have seen clear evidence of that in the past. So on the surface he will be missed. There's no question about that. But the unknown from the West Indies side is that how much the other's want to make up for his loss," said Whatmore.

He said a bit of complacency and some indiscretion on the part of the batsmen to get out, made the difference to their defeat by the West Indies in a league game played at this venue eight days ago.

"Our performance wasn't good, but we learnt a hell of a lot from that game," he said. So Sri Lanka are quite aware what complacency can do to them. They in fact, came back rather strongly in the return game to thrash West Indies by eight wickets at Kandy.

West Indies on their part also rounded off their league round in similar style with an emphatic eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe. Young fast bowler Buddhika Fernando who bowled superbly at Kandy could consider himself unlucky not to be in the final reckoning for the final because Sri Lanka are keen on going with experience. In that aspect, Nuwan Zoysa, the tall lanky fast bowler retains his place despite some ordinary bowling performance which has seen him wicketless despite bowling 24 overs for 112 runs. Zoysa will certainly be under pressure to deliver in the final. Fast bowler Chaminda Vaas and all-rounder Kumara Dharmasena who were rested for the final league game against West Indies on Saturday will return to the Sri Lanka team.

The only position that needs to be decided is the all-rounder's no. 7 between Suresh Perera and Upul Chandana. Perera is likely to get the nod ahead of his leg-spinning colleague on the ground that apart from Vaas and Zoysa they are a bit on the short side on seam bowling.

West Indies captain Hooper said his players were determined to win the final for Brian Lara, their leading batsman, who has been sidelined from playing by a fractured left forearm.

West Indies are looking for something to salvage from a tour in which nothing has gone right for them. They were beaten 3-0 by Sri Lanka in the Test series and to make matters worse lost the services of Lara their leading run-getter in the Test series with 688 runs (avg. 114.66).

Lara dislocated his left forearm when he collided with Sri Lanka fielder Marvan Atapattu in a league match played at Kandy on Saturday and since, has become a mere spectator as West Indies went on to qualify for the final by beating Zimbabwe in the final league match at Kandy on Sunday.

The final on Wednesday represents West Indies' last chance of taking back something home.

"If we can win the one-day final at least that would give us something positive to take home," said Hooper sizing up the prospects of his side's chances.

"I have a very strong belief that we will upset the Sri Lankans, even though they must be favourites. We beat Sri Lanka once and we know we can do it. Obviously Lara will be disappointed to miss the final. Hopefully, we can go out there and win it for him," said Hooper.

Lara top scored with 60 off 53 balls in the match that West Indies inflicted their only defeat on Sri Lanka, winning by 49 runs at this venue.

Without Lara they will need a big effort from the rest of the batsmen to come up with a total that can give their bowlers a chance of bowling the strong Sri Lankan batting out.

West Indies are likely to retain the same side that beat Zimbabwe so convincingly in the final league game on Sunday.

The winning team is assured of US$25,000 and the trophy with each player of the winning side being guaranteed a LG Flatron television set from the sponsors. The runner-up will take away US$15,000. Zimbabwe, the third team in the contest failed to qualify.

The teams: Sri Lanka (from): Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Avishka Gunawardana, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Kumar Sangakkara, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Muttiah Muralitharan, Suresh Perera, Upul Chandana.

West Indies (from): Carl Hooper (captain), Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ryan Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins, Darryl Brown, Neil McGarrell.

Umpires: Peter Manuel and Tyronne Wijewardene, TV Umpire: Gamini Silva, Match Referee: Raman Subba Row (England).

FINAL LEAGUE STANDINGS

		P	W	L	Pts	NRR

Sri Lanka	4	3	1	14*	+1.41

West Indies	4	2	2	8	+0.41

Zimbabwe	4	1	3	4	-1.70

*includes 2 extra bonus points

4 points for a win, 2 points for a no-result.

HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL SCORE: 106 (n.o.) - D.P.M. Jayawardene, Sri Lanka v WestIndies (Asgiriya)

FASTEST FIFTY: 43 balls - B.C. Lara, West Indies v Sri Lanka (RPS)

BEST BOWLING: 8/19 - W.P.U.J.C. Vaas, Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe (SSC)

HIGHEST INNINGS TOTAL: 272/7 (50 overs) - Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe (RPS)

LOWEST INNINGS TOTAL: 38 (15.4 overs) - Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka (SSC)

THE PATH TO THE FINAL

SRI LANKA

*beat Zimbabwe by 9 wickets

*lost to West Indies by 49 runs

*beat Zimbabwe by 59 runs

*beat West Indies by 8 wickets

WEST INDIES

*lost to Zimbabwe by 4 wickets

*beat Sri Lanka by 49 runs

*lost to Sri Lanka by 8 wickets

*beat Zimbabwe by 8 wickets

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