Hooper banking on Windies middle order

Captain Carl Hooper is hoping his powerful middle-order batsmen can help West Indies take the initiative by clinching the third one-day international of a five-match series at Kensington Oval on Wednesday.

The first two games were washed out and whoever wins the Bridgetown clash will go into this weekend's back-to-back matches in Trinidad with a huge advantage.

"It's a big match and we have to go in with all guns blazing," Hooper said after a practice session on Tuesday.

"It will be crucial to go one-up in this series, who knows it might rain in Trinidad as well and tomorrow's game might end up as the decider."

West Indies clinched the recent five-match Test series 2-1, mainly due to a fine bowling performance from their four-pronged pace attack, but Hooper is banking on a strengthened batting line-up to be the decisive factor in the one-dayers.

"The fast bowlers did well in the Tests but this is a one-day series and it's mainly about the batsmen. We want a side that can bat deep and then add two or three quicks in the lineup," he said.

Hooper has two all-rounders -- Gareth Breese of Jamaica and local player Ryan Hinds -- to call upon.

Breese, a former West Indies under-19 captain, is an off-spinner who can bat while Hinds, who impressed against Pakistan in Sharjah earlier this year, is a batsman who bowls useful left-arm spin.

"We would like a line-up that has a strong middle-order, with one of the all-rounders coming in at number seven, wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs at eight and then three quicks," Hooper said.

That would mean left-arm paceman Pedro Collins and Barbadian Corey Collymore could be fighting for the last slot with fast bowlers Mervyn Dillon and Cameron Cuffy virtually assured of places in the 11.

LAXMAN OUT

India, who have an abundance of one-day specialists in their squad, have decided to leave out Vangipurappu Laxman, even though he piled up 474 runs in the recent Test series.

"We have to leave Laxman out," said captain Saurav Ganguly.

"The youngsters -- Dinesh Mongia, Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh -- have all been batting really well and they can contribute with the ball as well and are excellent fielders. We would like to give them a chance."

Mongia, Kaif and Yuvraj all performed well against Zimbabwe earlier this year to lead India to a series win in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

Harbhajan Singh will be the lone spinner in the squad with left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar occupying the last two bowling slots.

India have decided to open with Ganguly and Tendulkar, who together hold the record for the most one-day century opening stands, if they bat first and with Ganguly and Sehwag if they are chasing a target.

"We want Sachin to come in at four, because he can lend reliability lower down the order if we are batting second," Ganguly said.

"This is a crucial match and we want to make sure that we win the series so that we can go back to India with something after having lost the Tests."

Teams:

India - Saurav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Mongia, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Tinu Yohannan.

West Indies (from) - Carl Hooper (captain), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Cameron Cuffy, Gareth Breese, Corey Collymore.

Mail Cricket Editor