“Very happy to have him back”.
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Narine, who is returning from a 14-month hiatus, has been forced to remodel his bowling action after he was twice reported for a suspect action. We got ten wickets in the first Test match in Galle – we only got one chance to bowl – and we got 20 wickets here which is what we’ve asked of the bowlers. He, however, said his side was let down by the batsmen in the Test.
Sunil Narine’s return should aid their bid for success.
More recently, they collapsed to a Test series loss to Sri Lanka. West Indies may not yet have a side that can prevail over five days, but they still have limited-overs cricketers who can scramble oppositions.
Rampaul will be expected to carry the weight of the seam attack along with Jerome Taylor and captain Holder. West Indies were defeated 4-1 by South Africa at the beginning of the year, memorably lost to Ireland in a World Cup campaign which also came to an end in the quarterfinal, and they have not played since. Andre Russell, the hard-hitting allrounder, scored 89 off 54 balls, and Carlos Brathwaite (113 off 58 deliveries) put on a 193-run partnership for the eighth wicket to rescue the visitors from a tricky position and secure a 43-run victory in Colombo via the Duckworth-Lewis method. The Windies have won six matches during the time with two matches seeing no result. “I would say the guys are well prepared”, said Holder. “But I started to hit a few in the middle of the bat and chose to take it from there”, he explained.
Both teams will see a change in personnel after the Test series.
Though West Indies’ trial by spin is likely to continue on a Khettarama surface known to turn up dry on match day, they will be pleased that Rangana Herath – chief among their banes in the Tests – will not play.
“It is definitely in the forefront of our minds”.
Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Milinda Siriwardana, Shehan Jayasuriya, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeffrey Vandersay, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Danushka Gunathileka.
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He has 17 wickets in 12 matches and also scored 208 runs in nine innings, including two half-centuries.
