COLOMBO (Reuters):
CARL Hooper will call on his West Indies team to salvage something from their disappointing Sri Lankan tour by winning the final of a triangular one-day event.
Hooper's side were thrashed 3-0 in the Test series to mark yet another low in West Indian fortunes but have at least managed to reach the final of the one-day event, meeting Sri Lanka in Colombo on Wednesday (tonight Ja time).
Hooper said: "It has been a very hard tour for us and we have not yet got anything to show for it and our hard work.
"The Test series was what we came for and that has been very disappointing...if we can win the one-day series, at least that would give us something positive to go home with." Sri Lanka go into the final as firm favourites, although West Indies beat them in their first meeting of the competition.
Since then, however, to make matters worse, Hooper has lost the services of leading batsman Brian Lara, who dislocated an elbow in the teams' last meeting on Saturday. Zimbabwe were eliminated after the first phase.
Hooper added: "I have a very strong belief that we will upset the Sri Lankans, even though they must be favourites.
"They will be very confident, after beating us convincingly on Saturday and winning the test series so handsomely, but I still think that we are yet to play our best one-day cricket on this tour."
West Indies' away form has been appalling in recent seasons, the team losing seven of their last eight test series while on tour. During that four-year period they have lost 24 games to four wins and been whitewashed by Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka.
