WEST INDIES, 1-0 down in the Cable & Wireless one-day series against England, will be seeking to draw level and take the lead when games two and three are played tomorrow and Sunday at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago.
Playing without inspirational captain Brian Lara the West Indies, led by Ramnaresh Sarwan, had a heart-breaking two-wicket loss in the first game played in Guyana last Sunday.
Lara, the new world record holder for most individual runs in a Test innings missed the opening match with a finger injury, this after he was advised to rest for 10 days by his doctor.
It is unclear whether Lara will appear in any of the weekend's matches.
"I'll make a decision closer to the match but I want to play as soon as possible," he said on Wednesday. "It's still tough to field and in one-day cricket a lot more questions will be asked because it's faster paced."
In Sunday's opening game, England's fast bowlers Darren Gough and Andrew Flintoff who picked up 2-22 each struck early blows to undermine the West Indies' hopes of a big total in a match which was reduced to 30 overs.
More assisitance
The West Indies will be hoping that Shivnarine Chanderpaul who top-scored with 84 will get more assistance from fellow opener Chris Gayle, Ricardo Powell, Sarwan and Dwayne Smith, all of whom were spectators for most of their team's innings.
The visitors will also be hoping for good batting from their top order of Marcus Trescothick and skipper Michael Vaughan and middle order batsmen Andrew Strauss, Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood.
Meanwhile former West Indies batsman Bryan Davis believes that the bad weather which has afflicted Trinidad in recent days could impact on preparation of the pitches for the matches.
Davis supervises the preparation of pitches at the Queen's Park Oval and is concerned the weather may not allow his staff to complete an adequate job.
"We only started preparing the pitch on Tuesday, but the pitch already had a foundation, so as the first of the dry weather came, with some heavy rolling it started to take shape," Davis told CMC Sports.
However, rain fell yesterday and Davis is concerned about the outfield which remains soggy.
West Indies (likely team): Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sylvester Joseph (or Brian Lara), Dwayne Smith, Ricardo Powell, Dwayne Bravo, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Ravi Rampaul, Ian Bradshaw.
England (likely): Michael Vaughan (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Ian Blackwell, Rikki Clarke, Chris Read, Darren Gough, Steve Harmison, James Kirtley.
