Spinners to play major role for Sri Lanka

Chris Dhambarage reporting from Galle

Sri Lanka will be looking to exploit the home conditions once again as they return to their happy hunting ground for the opening Test match against the touring West Indies team at the Galle International Stadium commencing today.

Sri Lanka have enjoyed a great amount of success at this Southern coastal venue having tamed many top opponents in the longer version of the game. In fact very recently they brought down the Indians at this same venue in a high drama game which also marked the retirement of legendary off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan from the established game.

As a result Sri Lanka will need to find a new spin attack to bring down the West Indies who will be lacking in match practice after their only three day match against the Sri Lanka President's XI which was washed out due to bad weather. West Indies will be really concerned on their batting after they were dismissed for under 200 runs in their first innings in that outing.

The pressure will be on senior players in the caliber of former captain Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo and Carlton Baugh.

Among the new comers only Brendon Nash was able to make an impact while scoring a fighting half century with the rest of the batting collapsing against the spin of Malinga Bandara and Ajantha Mendis.

In the bowling department the West Indies will be banking heavily on skipper Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach and Nelon Pascal who will be playing in a Test match against Sri Lanka for the first time.

Incidentally for Darren Sammy this will be a new experience which would make a huge impact in his career where he will be captaining the West Indies in a Test match for the first time.

In contrast the Sri Lankans will be firing a star studded line up except for speed star Lasith Malinga who has been rested for this game. Sri Lanka with a historic one day series triumph under their

belt will be confident as they look to further consolidate their position in the ICC Rankings.

No doubt spin will be Sri Lanka's main strength in this game as they look to find a replacement for the champion off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara believe that players like Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis and Suraj Randiv will need to share all the hard work to put their side on top.

In fact Herath had a splendid game in the previous game against India at this venue and look set to retain his position.

The new find for the Sri Lankan team Suraj Randiv has also been quite accurate and penetrative and will be making a strong claim for a place in the final eleven.

In addition dynamic wicket keeper batsman Kaushal Silva is also making a strong claim for a place in the side following his run of success with the bat along with the Sri Lanka 'A' team.

The teams:

Sri Lanka (from): Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Mahela Jayawardena, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavithana, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Prasanna Jayawardena, Thilina Kandamby, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath, Kaushal Silva, Dhammika Prasad, Dilhara Fernando, Thilan Thushara and Suranga Lakmal.

West Indies (from): Darren Sammy (captain), Brendon Nash, Chris Gayle, Adrian Barath, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Devon Smith, Carlton Baugh, Suleiman Benn, Nelon Pascal, Andrew Russell, Shane Shillingford, Kemar Roach, Devon Thomas.

Umpires: Steve Davis and Richard Kettelbrough.

TV umpire: Asad Rauf.