India in West Indies

West Indies skipper Carl Hooper has warned his side against any complacency after beating India in the recently concluded Test series.

The two sides meet again on Wednesday in Barbados in the opening of a reduced series of three one-dayers after the first two matches at Sabina Park were abandoned due to heavy rain in Jamaica.

"We are pretty much looking forward to Barbados, but we don't want complacency to creep in," said Hooper.

"We have savoured our Test win but it is gone and is history. "The important thing was to maintain intensity and train hard at a time when formal practice was not possible. This we managed to our satisfaction."

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Prolific Indian middle-order batsman Venkatsai Laxman has been dropped for today's third one-day international against the West Indies at Kensington Oval here.

"It was really a tough decision to drop Laxman for one-dayers, but it was necessary for the balance of the team," said India captain Sourav Ganguly.

India lost the five-Test series 2-1, while the first two one-day internationals in Jamaica were rained off without a ball being bowled.

Laxman, who has scored 857 runs in 37 one-dayers with one century and six half-centuries, has been replaced with Mohammad Kaif, one of the five players to join the team after the Test series.

"I think Kaif deserves a chance as he has been batting very well in one-day matches. He's also a very good fielder," said Ganguly.

Muralitharan's action

Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action will continue to create controversy with cricket fans, Australia's Shane Warne said on Wednesday.

"The fact with Muralitharan, I think his action will always create speculation with people, just the Joe Public saying does he or doesn't he," Warne told reporters.

"The ICC (the International Cricket Council) have cleared him to say he can play international cricket, that should be good enough for the players. "Is he legal, yes ... so you just get on with it."

Australia vice-captain Adam Gilchrist was reprimanded by the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) on Monday after suggesting Muralitharan's bowling action was suspect.

Sri Lanka in England

The Sri Lankan camp could risk playing Muttiah Muralitharan in Thursday's crucial Edgbaston Test even if he is only 60% fit, BBC Sport Online can reveal.

Such is the importance of the great off-spinner to the team's cause that tour manager Chandra Schaffter is prepared to risk all in a bid to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

A decision on whether the 30-year-old star, with 412 Test wickets to his name, will play could be delayed until the morning of the match.

Schaffter told BBC Sport Online: "We don't know, that's the honest answer, and he's still not sure if his arm has healed fully. "We will not know until Wednesday, possibly not until Thursday morning.

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Nasser Hussain insisted his side would be wary but not worried if Muttiah Muralitharan makes his return to the international stage as predicted in the second Test on Thursday.

Muralitharan is likely to play despite not being fully fit, as Sri Lanka look to their premier bowler to give them the advantage in the three-match series, which currently stands at 0-0.

However, the last time the two sides met in Sri Lanka in 2001, England managed to largely blunt Murali, restricting the spinner to 14 wickets at 30 in the three match series.

"The last series was a triumph for the coach, but also for the players," stressed Hussain.

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Alex Tudor probably has succeeded Chris Lewis as the biggest enigma among English bowling all-rounders, but Nasser Hussain gave a strong hint yesterday that the Surrey player will be given another opportunity to relaunch his international career in the second npower Test against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston tomorrow. "He has a good chance of playing," the England captain said.

When Tudor struck his famous 99 not out on the same ground to lead England to victory over New Zealand three years ago, it seemed unthinkable that he would not represent his country for another two years. Where Tudor is concerned, though, the old cliché of taking one game at a time holds especially true.

Miscellaneous

Mahela Jayawardena showed considerable strength of will to compile a Test hundred at Lord's a fortnight ago despite suffering the pain of a hip injury. That same determination is helping him on a different mission, away from cricket. Inspired by the memory of his only brother, he is helping to raise money for the only dedicated hospital for cancer patients in Sri Lanka.

Six years have passed since Dhishal Jayawardena finally succumbed to a brain tumour at the age of 16. Mahela was a 18 months older and still at school at the time. He carries a photograph of his late brother, at one time a promising left-handed batsman himself, throughout his travels around the cricket circuit.

Last year, he approached the Sri Lanka Cricketers' Association to become actively involved in a project to extend and improve the Maharagama Hospital, located near Colombo. "They were all very positive about it," he said. Thanks to a donation of about £1 million from a benefactor in Dubai, construction work can begin early next year.

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Shaun Pollock's prospects of leading South Africa at next year's World Cup are becoming stronger by the day.

Selection chief Omar Henry said on Tuesday he was hoping to have individual sessions with Pollock and the only other realistic contender, Jonty Rhodes, in the course of the next week.

He will almost certainly have to travel to England to meet Pollock. The South African captain is playing for Warwickshire and there isn't a big enough break in the county schedule for Pollock to return to South Africa.

Henry is aware of the need to build on the new momentum created by the recent structural changes and that requires the captain, the coaching and management staff to be confirmed as soon as possible.

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