COLOMBO (Reuters)
West Indies captain Carl Hooper has urged his batsmen to emulate Brian Lara's technique against spin as the tourists attempt to avoid a series whitewash in the third Test starting on Thursday. West Indies succumbed to Muttiah Muralitharan in both the opening two Tests with former captain Lara, who averages 84.25 in the series, the only batsman to withstand the off-spinner's wiles. Sri Lanka won the first Test at Galle by 10 wickets and the second in Kandy by 131 runs. "Murali probably holds the upper hand right now," said Hooper. "He's got us thinking about him after 21 wickets in the first two games. The only way to tackle him is when you watch Brian play. He has basically looked to score runs off him. The majority of us probably looked to defend a little bit more and perished." Hooper said the younger West Indies' players had been surprised by the amount of spin Muralitharan extracted on his home pitches. "We have a lot of young guys here and they were shocked to see Muralitharan spin the ball so big with the one that goes the other way that's cleverly disguised," he said. "You've got to find a balance against world class bowlers. You got to be able to think in terms like what they are going to do to you and keep them thinking, so that they wouldn't be able to exploit and get everything tailor made for them," he said.

West Indies also have an inexperienced bowling attack which has been unable to put pressure on the Sri Lankan batting. "To think that Merv Dillon is our senior fast bowler who has played only 19 Tests is a good indication where we are at," said Hooper. "They lack in experience when you start coming to places like Sri Lanka, India and Australia where you've got to adjust to situations quickly." West Indies are likely to make changes to their bowling lineup. Marlon Black could take over from Colin Stuart who was pulled out of the attack for bowling beamers at Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya in Kandy. Sri Lanka have named an unchanged side and their confidence is high. "We just want to continue doing what we've been doing in the last few games," said Jayasuriya. "It was important that we won in Kandy and we were able to achieve that. Our confidence is very high after this victory." Sri Lanka have been boosted by the bowling of left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas, who has employed reverse swing to good effect and proved an admirable foil to Muralitharan.

Sri Lanka (from) Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillekeratne, Tilan Samaraweera, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Muttiah Muralitharan, Niroshan Bandaratillake, Upul Chandana. West Indies (from) Carl Hooper (capt), Chris Gayle, Darren Ganga, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Dinanath Ramnarine, Pedro Collins, Marlon Black, Colin Stuart, Neil McGarrell.

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