West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul takes a look at the wicket during a practice session at Lord's yesterday. The West Indies will face England at Lord's in the first Test match starting tomorrow morning.

Tony Becca, Contributing Editor

THE WEST Indies take on England at Lord's tomorrow morning (Ja time) in the first of the four-match Test series.

Although there is a new captain, a new coach and a new manager on board, even though there is a lot of talk coming from almost everyone in the team about team spirit and commitment and that the Windies can win if they do this and if they do that, the odds are overwhelmingly against them drawing or even winning one of the matches.

Back in 2000, the West Indies, after winning the first Test at Edgbaston, were beaten 3-1. In 2004, after they were routed for 47 in one Test and for 94 in another, they were beaten 3-0 at home. In 2004, they were crushed 4-0 in England with the home team winning by 210 runs, 256 runs, seven wickets and 10 wickets, and there is nothing to suggest that things will be any different this time around.

LARA MISSED

Brian Lara is missing and, as a captain, as a member of the team, many West Indians will not regret that. As a batsman, however, as one of the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen, he will definitely be missed.

The West Indies batting, it seems, will be Christopher Gayle and Daren Ganga, Devon Smith, captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Runako Morton and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo. As good as Chanderpaul is, as exciting as Gayle and Sarwan can be, without Lara, it is lacking in class and quality.

The West Indies bowling, it seems, will be Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell with medium-pacer Bravo and Gayle in support, and as tight as Collymore may be, as good as Taylor is, and even though, according to coach David Moore, Gayle is the best spin bowler in the West Indies, that attack could be easy pickings for England's batsmen - even though they are nowhere near the best in the world.

Against the West Indies batsmen - only one of whom, Chanderpaul, averages 40 and over - England's bowling will be pacers Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and Liam Plunkett, plus a real spin bowler in left-hander Monty Panesar.

Experienced bowlers

Harmison, Hoggard and Flintoff are all experienced bowlers with a lot of success behind them, they all boast pockets full of wickets at averages in the low 30s, and newcomer Panesar, whose primary job is to take wickets, is a tricky bowler who flights the ball well and spins it appreciably.

Against the West Indies bowlers, only two of whom have taken more than 50 wickets and have averages better than 40, England will line-up captain Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Flintoff - all of whom, but for Flintoff, average above 40.

On top of that, when one looks at the fact that in Pietersen, Strauss, Collingwood and Bell, Hoggard, Flintoff and Harmison, England have four batsmen and three bowlers in the top 20 performers in the game, that in Chanderpaul and Collymore, the West Indies have only one batsman and one bowler, and that while England are at number two in the rankings, the West Indies are at number eight, the odds must be undoubtedly in England's favour.<