West Indies skipper Chris Gayle (centre) congratulates batsmen Marlon Samuels (left) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul after both shared an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 107 that took the West Indies to victory in the second one-day international against Sri Lanka, at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad, on Sunday. The Windies will look to sweep the three-match series when the teams meet in the final ODI in St Lucia today. - Dellmar photo
GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC):
West Indies will be looking to complete a rare series whitewash when they meet Sri Lanka in the third Digicel One Day International (ODI) at the Beausejour Stadium today.
The day/night match, the second ever to be staged in the Caribbean, presents the regional team with a chance to pull off a third successive victory and pick up points in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) rankings.
After winning the first two matches at the Queen's Park Oval by one wicket and seven wickets, coach John Dyson said the intention was to close out the series with another victory.
"There will be no letting up. We are going all out to secure a clean sweep in this series. In a three-match series when you are up 2-0 is to go all out and sweep the series and this is what we plan to do," Dyson said.
"This has been a superb display so far and we are looking to continue the momentum we have developed.
"We will be looking for even more consistency and the aim is to finish off with another good victory."
Last win ...
West Indies' last clean sweep in a limited-overs series was in 2004 against Bangladesh, but they were also unbeaten in the series against Zimbabwe in 2006 and 2007 when some matches were abandoned because of rain.
Having wrapped up the series against Sri Lanka in Trinidad, West Indies have a chance to expose two players from their 16-man squad who did not get an opportunity in the earlier matches.
Batsmen Runako Morton and Kieron Pollard have not yet had a chance in the series after West Indies made three changes from the team that played in the opening match.
Opener Devon Smith, left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn and ill wicketkeeper Patrick Browne gave way to Sewnarine Chattergoon, Daren Powell and Denesh Ramdin, but the chances of further changes appear slim.
"In a three-match series, rotation systems are extremely difficult. In a five-match series you might look at it more carefully," Dyson said.
"It's a three-match series, if you can win it three-nil that's great, you try and sweep the series whenever you can."
If West Indies complete a whitewash, the Caribbean side will still remain at No. 8 in the ICC's ODI rankings, but they will narrow the
gap to four points with No. 7 ranked England.
Dyson, however, was not too concerned by the rankings.
"I'm not thinking about the ICC points ranking table at the moment. All I'm thinking about is from match to match and trying to build on what we're doing," he said.
"We've built some good environment for the players. We've built some team spirit and the wins certainly helped that and I'd like the guys to continue with the form they've shown throughout the Test Series, particularly the second Test and now the one-day series."
The Beausejour Stadium, which opened in 2002, erected floodlights in 2006 and staged the first day/night ODI in the Caribbean when Zimbabwe toured the region two years ago.
Starting time for today's match is 2:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. Jamaica time).
TEAMS
WEST INDIES: Chris Gayle (captain), Devon Smith, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Runako Morton, Dwayne Bravo, Patrick Browne, Darren Sammy, Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Denesh Ramdin, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, Kieron Pollard.
SRI LANKA: Mahela Jayawar-dene (captain), Upul Tharanga, Mahela Udawatte, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Chaminda Vaas , Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Thushara, Malinga Bandara, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Ishara Amerasinghe Jehan Mubarak.
Umpires: Simon Taufel, Clyde Duncan. TV replays: Goaland Greaves.
Match referee: Chris Broad.
