By Tony Becca - From The Boundary 
THE SRI Lankans are here and, after losing all three Test matches in their last encounter - one by 10 wickets, one by 131 runs and the other by 10 wickets, the West Indies are gunning for revenge.
Looking at both teams, however, that will not be easy. In fact, with Sri Lanka parading batsmen like Marvan Atapattu, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Hashan Tillakaratne, bowlers like Chaminda Vaas, Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana, Muttiah Muralitharan and parading a nicely balanced side, the odds are against the West Indies who, despite a potentially dangerous batting side, are weak in bowling.
In recent times, Sri Lanka's batting has been unpredictable, but if there is no improvement in the West Indies bowling, if Jermaine Lawson is not at his best, if Daren Powell does not fire at his best if selected, Atapattu and company could enjoy themselves.
For the West Indies, therefore, victory will depend a lot on the fortunes of their batsmen. The fear, however, is that as talented as they may be, Brian Lara, who scored 178 and 40, 74 and four, 221 and 130 in the last series between the two teams, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul apart, they may be no match for Sri Lanka's bowlers.
The fear is that Christopher Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Daren Ganga, Marlon Samuels and Devon Smith will be sitting ducks for offspinner Muralitharan, and remembering that the smiling assassin has not only has taken 450 wickets at an average of 23.55, but that he has also taken 44 wickets in six matches against the West Indies - 16 in two matches in the West Indies and 28 in four in Sri Lanka - at an average of 18.86, there is good reason for it.
The man to really fear, however, may well be Vaas - the pacer who has taken 106 wickets at home in 34 matches, 106 away in 31 matches, and the man whose haul against the West Indies is an impressive 26 wickets in three matches at an average of 15.42 after pocketing four and two, four and two, and seven and seven in the last series.
Vaas is the one to fear, not because of his record but because of his skill.
The left-hander bowls at about fast-medium pace, he is accurate, he swings the ball both ways, he is a competitor, and as was the case in Sri Lanka when he picked off Gayle for 9, 1, 0, 0, 0 in five of the six innings while handing Sri Lanka a good start every time, and in the World Cup in Cape Town when, despite strong advice not to take any chances against him, he knocked away Hinds and Lara in quick success while taking four wickets for 22 runs off his 10 overs, he could be deadly against the young, aggressive West Indies batsmen.
Against Australia, they did reasonably well and that is one reason why the West Indies believe they can avenge the last defeat. As great as Glenn McGrath is, however, as good as Jason Gillespie is, and as explosive, as fast, and as accurate as Brett Lee is, none of them swings the ball as much as Vaas does.
Muralitharan is dangerous - no question about that. So too is Vaas, however, and as hard as they hit the ball, the first few batsmen in the West Indies line-up will have to keep their eyes on it and watch it carefully if they hope to be around when Atapattu calls in Muralitharan.
