Shoaib, Ambrose to provide cutting edge

For a long time, many West Indies cricket fans have bemoaned the lack of successors to Ambrose and his long-standing new-ball partner Courtney Walsh, who is not playing in the limited-overs series.

Sunday’s win by 17 runs over Pakistan with neither in the side must have inspired some level of confidence not only in the younger bowlers, but the spectators who are likely to pack out the ground for the match. Reon King, whose three wickets for 38 runs from 10 overs earned him the man-of-the-match award last Sunday, felt good about being able to play a leading role in the result.

“I see it as a challenge and we’ve got to put our best foot forward,” King told reporters. “It has been hard work. We had a rough series in New Zealand, so we are trying to win matches for West Indies now.”

The West Indies have not lost any of the six matches they have played in this home series, including two Tests against Zimbabwe.

“We have approached this series with the intention of trying to win everything,” skipper Jimmy Adams said. “I don’t think we have started playing as well as we can. Our bowling, batting and fielding, we can still improve and I say that seriously. It is something we will continue to look at as we go along.”

Ambrose is likely to be the only change in the West Indies 11. He will replace off-spin bowler Nehemiah Perry, who was dropped from the squad of 14 chosen for leg-spin bowler Mahendra Nagamootoo.

Similarly, Pakistan will be looking to give their bowling a boost by choosing Shoaib in their final 11. He has not played in any of Pakistan’s matches on tour because of the injury he sustained in the Sharjah Cup tournament just prior to arrival in the Caribbean.

Having been beaten by 96 runs in Kingston and rolled over by 17 runs in St George’s, Pakistan will be hoping to reverse the results and take a 1-0 lead in the finals ahead of the other two finals in Port-of-Spain on Saturday and Sunday.

On a hard, true pitch, Shoaib will give a further edge to Pakistan’s bowling attack which has performed creditably in the four preliminary matches to limit their opponents (which also included Zimbabwe) to scores of 199, 213, 204 and 231.

Pakistan will want to see an improvement in their batting though. In St George’s, there were signs that it may be coming together with good knocks from teenager Imran Nazir, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana.

“We are just looking for our opening batsmen and number three to click,” coach Javed Miandad remarked. “If they can give us a good foundation, I think we have a good enough side and we are capable of beating West Indies in the finals.”

Pakistan’s long-standing policy is to name their 11 just prior to the toss. If Shoaib does make the side, he could be one of three changes to the 11 from the previous match, since Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi are also likely to return.

Teams (from): West Indies: Jimmy Adams (captain), Sherwin Campbell (vice-captain), Philo Wallace, Wavel Hinds, Chris Gayle, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Franklyn Rose, Nixon McLean, Curtly Ambrose, Reon King, Sylvester Joseph, Laurie Williams, Mahendra Nagamootoo.

Pakistan: Moin Khan (captain), Inzamam-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Wajahatullah Wasti, Yousuf Youhana, Abdur Razzaq, Wasim Akram, Mohammed Akram, Arshad Khan, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed, Mohammed Wasim, Naved Qureshi, Atiq-uz-Raman, Shoaib Malik, Irfan Fazil.