LONDON, England, CMC – Fiery pacer Fidel Edwards, struck down with a back injury on Monday, remains a huge doubt for the West Indies as they get ready to face undefeated Sri Lanka in the second ICC World Twenty20 semi-final today.
Team officials would not confirm yesterday whether Edwards would play in the crucial day/night fixture at The Oval but the 27-year-old speedster sat out the pre-match training session on the eve of the game and Darren Sammy is poised to replace him again.
Edwards has an irritation of the nerve root in his lower back, an injury he suffered while warming up to face England in a pivotal Super 8 match Monday that West Indies won by five wickets with four balls to spare.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle concedes that the pacer’s absence would be a big blow to them.
“He has been good for us throughout the tournament,” said Gayle.
“He’s the sort of bowler who can actually win you games and pick up crucial wickets at crucial times. Sometimes he can go for runs, but he’s a wicket-taker and can change games. He’d be missed, because he was missed for the last game even though we won,” Gayle said.
The Sri Lankans enter the game with a psychological advantage having beaten the Caribbean side last week by 15 runs in the first round.
Gayle is prepared to encounter a potent batting line-up that includes the in-form Tillakaratne Dilshan, the second most prolific batsman – after Jacques Kallis — in the tournament so far, the experienced Sanath Jayasuriya and former captain Mahela Jayawardene.
“They are a very good attacking team. Whenever one of them doesn’t click someone else steps up, which is good in a team,” Gayle said.
Unorthodox Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis and fast bowler Lasith Malinga have proven to be Sri Lanka’s best bowlers so far.
Of the top four wicket-takers in the championship, Mendis has the best average (10.00) and economy rate (5.55) and he boasted this week that batsmen are having trouble reading him.
“No batsman has figured me out yet,” Mendis said.
Malinga and Mendis are backed up by veteran spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Gayle is also fully aware of the Sri Lankans’ bowling strength.
“Whatever total they get on the board they seem to have the bowling attack to defend it,” said Gayle.
The Windies are comfortable at The Oval — with wins there over Australia and England in the past two weeks – and although the Sri Lankans will be having their first match here in the tournament, their captain Kumar Sangakkara is not bothered by any impact the venue has on the game.
“We’ve played one-day cricket here before, it seems a pretty even track with good bounce and I think it will stay consistent right throughout,” he said.
“Especially when it comes to our spinners, I think if they can get a bit more bounce out of the track, they will be more effective,” Sangakkara added.
Match time is 5:30 pm (12:30 Eastern Caribbean Time/11:30 Jamaica Time).
TEAMS:WEST INDIES – Chris Gayle (captain), Denesh Ramdin (vice captain), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard Jr., Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Xavier Marshall, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor.
SRI LANKA – Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Muttiah Muralitharan (vice captain), Indika de Saram, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Nuwan Kulasekara, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Matthews, Ajantha Mendis, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Silva, Thilan Thushara, Isuru Udana.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Rudi Koertzen (South Africa)
Matchreferee: AJ Hurst (Australia)
