By Tony Becca, Senior Sport EditorCAPE TOWN:
THE WEST Indies appear unlikely to make any dramatic changes when they take on Sri Lanka at Newlands on Friday.
For the West Indies, it is a match they must win if they hope to make it to the second round of the World Cup and, as far as their fans in South Africa are concerned, if they hope to do so, they must do three things.
According to the fans, the West Indies need to play not seven batsmen and three specialist bowlers, but six batsmen and four specialist bowlers, they need to bring in pacer Jermaine Lawson and they need to drop Chris Gayle.
The call for a change in the combination is based on a feeling that the bowling is so weak that it needs support.
The call for Lawson is based on the fact that he is faster and better than all the other bowlers and that the pitches in South Africa suit him better than all the other bowlers.
The call for a change at the top of the order is because Gayle has not been performing. If one batsman has to go in order to accommodate another bowler, then he should be the one to go and Shivnarine Chanderpaul promoted to open the innings.
Will the West Indies follow the advice of their fans? No one knows - certainly not where it concerns the inclusion of Lawson.
It is almost a safe bet, however, that there will be no change at the start of the innings and because it appears that there will be no change in that area, it is also almost a safe bet that it will once again be seven batsmen and three bowlers.
The reason why it is a good bet is based on the words of captain Carl Hooper shortly after a four-hour training session at Newlands yesterday.
Hooper did not say that it will be Gayle and Wavell Hinds again, but listening to him, it appears certain that it will be.
According to Hooper, apart from the concern over their bowling, the West Indies problem is that they have not been getting good starts - as they did in India against India.
"Yes, we have those two problems. We have got the opening slot which has not been productive so far this tournament but I am hoping that it will come good," said Hooper.
More importantly, however is what the captain went on to say.
"I am sure that we will get into the next round, that means we have three more games, hopefully we will also have a semi-final and the final, so there is a lot of time for Chris and Wavell and I am sure that in time they will get some runs."
