The West Indies will look to the legendary Garfield Sobers for inspiration as it bids for an unlikely series-saving victory when it takes on fellow struggler Sri Lanka in the second Test in Colombo Thursday. The tourists have yet to win a Test in Sri Lanka at 10 attempts and they suffered an innings defeat last weekend in the first Test in Galle where veteran spinner Rangana Herath took 10 wickets in the match. The 79-year-old Sobers, widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder ever to have played the game, is in Colombo to watch the second and final Test at the P Sara Oval alongside Sri Lanka's Michael Tissera. The two men were rival captains when the then Ceylon played the West Indies in an unofficial one-off Test at the same venue in 1967. Sobers was the star of the show, hitting a century in a rain-affected match. Back then, the West Indies was on the cusp of a lengthy period of domination in international cricket while its host was still some years away from attaining Test status. The West Indies, however, has not found Sri Lanka a happy hunting ground since it played its first official Test on the island in 1993. Now the West Indies is only above Bangladesh in the league table of regular Test playing nations while Sri Lanka is one notch above it in seventh place. Sri Lanka is going through a rebuilding phase after the recent retirements of star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. But it is still far too strong for the visitors in Galle who were let down by sloppy fielding as well as a failure by most of their batsmen to build a big innings despite making starts. While the West Indies is expected to be unchanged, skipper Jason Holder has acknowledged that his batsmen need to show more application. Like Sobers, Holder hails from Barbados and is looking to put a smile on the face of a man whom he has described as "one of the greatest to play the game." In contrast, Holder's opposite number Angelo Mathews is wary of dwelling on the past and has spent the build-up to the match speaking of his satisfaction at his team's response to the recent retirements. He was particularly delighted with the performances of Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne, who both scored big hundreds in Galle. The main question for Sri Lanka's selectors will be whether to keep faith with off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal who only took one wicket in Galle. The experienced Dilruwan Perera would be a like-for-like replacement Batsman Lahiru Thirimanne is also vulnerable after a run of low scores, with the uncapped 20-year-old Kusal Mendis waiting in the wings.
