Two Tests down and the series lost, West Indian captain Carl Hooper islooking for his top-order to finally gel in the third Test in Colombostarting Thursday, as the tourists try to avert the ignominy of a serieswhitewash in Sri Lanka

Charlie Austin28-Nov-2001Two Tests down and the series lost, West Indian captain Carl Hooper islooking for his top-order to finally gel in the third Test in Colombostarting Thursday, as the tourists try to avert the ignominy of a serieswhitewash in Sri Lanka.Brian Lara apart, the West Indies have failed to come to terms with themysterious wiles of off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 21 wickets inthe first two Tests, and have been bowled out for less than 200 on threeoccasions.”We have all struggled apart from Brian (Lara),” Hooper said. “We are upagainst a good side and world-class spinner who has put us under a lot ofpressure.””Each and every batsman, from number one to eleven, has got to find a way ofputting a good score together.”West Indies have consistently collapsed whenever Lara has been dismissed. InGalle the last five wickets produced just 38 runs in both innings and inKandy they only mustered 24 in the first innings and 64 in the second.But Hooper, speaking after the team’s final practice, believes the top sixhave to take responsibility. “The lower order did quite well in the SouthAfrican and the Zimbabwean series, but not here. It is an area that we haveto look at, but the priority is for the top five or six to click.”He added: “We have had a few half-centuries, but to be successful we needbig hundreds with the others chipping in. We need to be consistently puttingtogether scores in excess of 400.”There is unlikely to be an emotional rallying call from the captain in theteam meeting later tonight. The calm 34-year-old Guyanan is beating apragmatic drum with one eye on the future.”We have some good players but in terms of experience we are very short,which is plays a big part when you come and play in places like Sri Lanka,”he said.”We have got a lot of young guys and Muralitharan has been a shock to them.If they come again, with greater experience, whilst they still may not beable to pick him, they may have devised a way to be more successful againsthim.”Nevertheless, he feels that the West Indies are not so far behind the hosts:”I think if we can raise our game by 15-20% then that would make uscompetitive against the Sri Lankans. They are not as good a side as SouthAfrica and so on.”Indeed, Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya admits that his side is stilltoo reliant on Muralitharan: “We need more support for Murali. Chaminda Vaashas been bowling really well but we lack an extra spinner at the moment. Wehave tried a few but unfortunately none of them are in the class of Murali.”Sri Lanka, though, are going to give left-arm spinner NiroshanBandaratillake a further chance, believing that he offers greater potentialthan other contenders. It marks a welcome development. With the sideenjoying unprecedented success, the up-an-coming players are at last to begiven a decent chance to perform.The selectors faith extends to Russel Arnold, who has had a torrid run withthe bat. On the basis of statistics (his average has now dropped from 40 to27.37 in his last 20 Tests) he should have long since been discarded. Butteam success allows the selectors to persevere with him, at least until theend of the Zimbabwe tour.”We need people like Russel (Arnold) to score runs,” Jayasuriya said. “Hehas been going through a bad patch, but we have to keep pursuing with him ashe has a lot of talent and potential. He is a good player and a team man; Iam sure that he will come good.”Sri Lanka are therefore likely to pick the same side that won in Kandy, eventhough the pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club traditionally offers thefaster bowlers greater assistance than in Galle and Kandy.West Indies are considering one possible change: the inclusion of fastbowler Marlon Black in place of Colin Stuart.Likely teams:Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara,Mahela ,Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillakaratne, Thilan Samaraweera,Chaminda Vaas, Niroshan Bandaratillake, Muttiah Muralithathan, Nuwan ZoysaWest Indies: Carl Hooper (capt), Daren Ganga, Chris ,Ramnaresh Sarwan,Brian Lara, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins,Dinanath Ramnarine, Marlon Samuels