On not having Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Malinga and Maharoof:

These guys (Malinga and Maharoof) are young and as they have come through we have some more youngsters coming through the set up. We have a lot of confidence in these guys. These are experienced players who are not here (Jayasuriya and Attapatu) but then that is how you take challenges and move forward in this game of cricket and the guys who we've brought here will definitely do the job for us and I think it is a great opportunity for them and I think they are up for the challenge

On the lack of consistency:

We haven't been consistent with our One Day cricket recently but Test cricket has been pretty good so we just have to make sure that we refocus on the longer version because we are starting off with the Test matches here in the West Indies and make sure we start the tour on a high note. And then we can continue to play some good cricket.

 

Towards the latter part of the Australian tour we played some good cricket so if we can continue to do that, keep challenging ourselves. We're in a rebuilding process for the next World Cup so there are going to be ups and downs but as long as we can be a bit more consistent with our all round game I think we will be heading in the right direction

On this being a Caribbean farewell for Vaas and Murali and what the younger bowlers can learn from them:

Those two guys have been excellent servants to Sri Lanka cricket. For the younger generation they spearheaded the attack for quite some time now and [have been] giving the guidance to these guys. Hopefully they can play for a while (longer) but it is all up to them, they will decide when they want to leave this game but before they leave the younger guys coming through can take much more from these two senior bowlers.

They have done it all over the world and are two of the best guys you can talk to about the game. Myself and Kumar (Sangakarra) have learnt a lot from these guys, it will be a good series for these guys, they will want to enjoy, want to do well in West Indies because it is probably the last time they will come here.

On the batting revolving around him and Sangakkara:

With the changes we are getting and different people coming through the set up, the senior players will have to take the burden and the responsibility and that is with any team. Both Kumar and myself are both happy to do that but we've got some exciting youngsters coming through but as soon as they hit their strides they will put their hand up and take a bit more responsibility and I'm looking forward to that but til they are ready it is up to us (senior batsman) to steady the ship.

On Guyana and Trinidad being good to the team in ODI cricket:

The venues have been pretty good to us, the wickets are pretty good but until we start playing here, getting used to the conditions, it's going to be quite different so our priority would be to get into the nets as quickly as possible and start getting used to the conditions, assess the conditions. There are few guys who haven't been to the West Indies before, [we have to] make sure they get their heads right and start playing some good cricket.

On whether he rates the West Indies team:

I think they have some really good prospects, they've got some really exciting cricketers as well. You can't under estimate [them], they haven't been consistent but they are a good side, they can beat anybody in the world on their given day so we have to make sure that we are not too complacent about approaching this series and they are playing in their home grounds so they have something to play for. For us it is all about trying to compete away from home, win away from home, those are our challenges so looking forward to it.

On Sri Lanka having a good record at home but not yet winning a Test match in the West Indies:

That is something we've been addressing, the last four to five years we've tried to compete away from home. We're very good at home. In our conditions we dominate but away from home we've been winning a lot [recently]. We beat England in England, New Zealand and we came close in Australia so we're headed in the right direction so if we can keep competing away from home, challenging ourselves to be better cricketers every day that's the way forward.

It's going to be a great challenge and hopefully we can win the first [Test] series in the West Indies.