Sport

Lawson in Windies line-up

Jermaine Lawson - file

KANDY, SRI LANKA, CMC

DESPITE AN OFFICIAL report questioning the legality of his bowling action, Jermaine Lawson is set to let fly again for the West Indies in the second and final Test of the series against Sri Lanka beginning on Friday (tonight local time) at the picturesque Asigirya Stadium.

The 24-year-old fast bowler picked up eight wickets - four in each innings - in the first Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, where the hosts won by six wickets just after tea on the fourth day.

It was one of a few encouraging aspects of the Caribbean side's performance -particularly in the absence of most of their senior players, since they were expected to be mauled by a full-strength Sri Lanka side.

Lawson remains available for selection according to the International Cricket Council's revised, and very complicated, process of dealing with questionable bowling actions.

It follows the decision by Pakistan to persist with Shabbir Ahmed for the second and final Test against the West Indies at Kingston last month, even though he was officially reported after the first Test a week earlier at Bridgetown.

Shabbir picked up eight wickets in Barbados, lifting his series tally to 13, and played a critical role in his team's comfortable victory.

Subsequent video analysis of his action in that match revealed a 27-degree bending and straightening of his bowling, considerably in excess of the 15-degree allowance now approved by the ICC.

Shabbir, who was reported twice before, is now suspended from international cricket until modification of his action.

It is unlikely that Lawson will be unduly perturbed by the prospect of a similar penalty in the coming weeks.

When he was first reported after taking seven wickets in the first innings of the fourth and final Test against Australia at St. John's two years ago, injury prevented him from bowling in the second innings, while the process of remodelling his action, and further injury setbacks kept him off the international scene until the 2004 tour of England.

Debutant wicketkeeper

This time around, courtesy of a bewildering convoluted procedure, he has a window of opportunity to again seek to undermine Sri Lanka's vaunted batting line-up, and in the upcoming tri-nation limited-overs series with the hosts and India.

Lawson however, was not the only one to emerge with credit from the first Test. Having dismissed the opposition for 227 in the first innings, and given them a fright at 49 for three in pursuit of a modest victory target of 172, there is much for the West Indies to build on, in the second Test.

There was their almost flawless effort in the field, where a handful of superb catches, and the brilliance of debutant wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin gave an unexpected polish to what was generally expected to be a ragtag bunch of misfits.

Those positive aspects however, could not compensate for the perennial bugbear of a second innings batting capitulation and the obvious technical deficiencies of a number of top-order batsmen.

Despite the resilience of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, it was too much to expect the West Indies captain to hold an innings together almost single-handedly against the threat of Sri Lanka's two most experienced bowlers.

Left-arm fast-medium bowler Chaminda Vaas and champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan took seven wickets each in the match.

Muralitharan returned to his most devastating in taking six wickets for 36 runs in the second innings, while Vaas also contributed an invaluable top score of 49 in his team's first innings to deservedly earn the Man-of-the-Match award.

Constant shuffling

Sri Lanka will again be heavily reliant on the pair, and with Muralitharan returning to his hometown nestled in the country's central hill district, he will be especially keen to put on a show for his adoring fans in Kandy.

While he was not the only one to struggle, Dwayne Smith, whose two innings in Colombo lasted a total of nine deliveries, seemed incapable of coping with the moving ball and is expected to give way to the uncapped Ryan Ramdass in the only change from the first Test.

Ramdass has fully recovered from a shoulder injury and should open the batting with Xavier Marshall, allowing everyone else to push further down the order.

Given his vast experience in contrast to everyone else in the team, and particularly after scores of 69 and 48 not out at the SSC, it is imperative that Chanderpaul takes on the responsibility of leader and senior player by pushing up from five to four.

He may have been upset by the constant shuffling up and down the order throughout his international career, but in these exceptional circumstances, the captain must recognise that he is the man to shoulder the burden and lead by example just behind the openers.

Sri Lanka, who appeared to be caught napping by the determined West Indies effort over the first two days of the opening Test, are unlikely to make any changes to their final 11.

Skipper Marvan Atapattu and coach Tom Moody would want to reinforce the message that as much as the opposition remains heavy underdogs, any lack of application or commitment could see them being embarrassed again.

The sheer unpredictability of the impending contest is likely to be matched by the weather. In this monsoon season, showers are almost inevitable during the course of the match.

Yet it remains to be seen how intense the precipitation will be and how hard the enthusiastic ground staff will be required to work to give the home fans the chance to see their heroes in action, as Sri Lanka seek a second consecutive home Test series sweep of West Indies

Teams:

SRI LANKA (from): Marvan Atapattu (captain), Mahela Jayawardene (vice captain), Russel Arnold, Upul Chandana, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Sanath Jayasuriya, Laisth Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Samaraweera, Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas, Gayan Wijekoon, Nuwan Zoysa.

WEST INDIES (from): Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Sylvester Joseph (vice captain), Omari Banks, Tino Best, Deighton Butler, Narsingh Deonarine, Kerry Jeremy, Jermaine Lawson, Xavier Marshall, Runako Morton, Darren Powell, Ryan Ramdass, Dinesh Ramdin, Dwayne Smith.