SL tour will help in acclimatisation - Gibson

	Ottis Gibson is confident about his team's chances in the World Cup © AFP Enlarge
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West Indies coach Ottis Gibson has said his team's upcoming tour of Sri Lanka will help the players acclimatise to the conditions for the World Cup that is being played in the subcontinent. West Indies play three ODIs against Sri Lanka at the SSC in Colombo, but while their World Cup warm-up games will also be played in Sri Lanka, they play their group games in India and Bangladesh.

"It is a good opportunity to put some of the plans in place that we are going to take into the World Cup," Gibson said. "When we went for the Test series we did really well as a team and we made progress. We also had a chance to get used to the conditions. The players are fresh out of the Caribbean Twenty20 and are ready for what we have coming up."

West Indies are part of Group B in the World Cup along with South Africa, Netherlands, India, Bangladesh, England and Ireland, and Gibson was positive about his team's chances in the tournament.

"I think we have a team that can win the World Cup," he said. "We will go there with the expectation of doing very well and putting ourselves in a position where we can reach the semi-finals, which is a very realistic possibility. We are not listed among the favourites and that could work in our favour."

The three-Test series between West Indies and Sri Lanka last December ended in a rain-marred 0-0 draw. That series was to be followed by the one-dayers, but they were rescheduled due to bad weather. The first ODI will be played at the SSC on January 31.

Squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith.