JOHANNESBURG (Reuters)

West Indies captain Chris Gayle, who missed the last three one-day matches against Zim-babwe with a hamstring strain, said yesterday he hoped to be fit for the first Test against South Africa on December 26.

"My injury is coming on very well, hopefully I'll be ready for the first Test, but I need to work with the physio," Gayle told reporters at Johannesburg International Airport.

West Indies lost their two previous series in South Africa 5-0 in 1998/99 and 3-0 in 2003/04.

"We have not done well here in the past, but hopefully that will change on this tour. We've lost some experience because Ramnaresh Sarwan is not here, but we have a young side and hopefully they can get the job done," Gayle said.

"It's always difficult to beat South Africa at home, you need to play good cricket. Batting will be very important because the pitches here assist the bowlers. If we get starts, then we must capitalise on them and we need to concentrate on winning more sessions," the skipper added.

Good preparation

West Indies won the limited-over series in Zimbabwe 3-1, after losing the first match, and manager Clive Lloyd said it had been good preparation for the South African leg of their tour.

"We won and quite a few guys had a good hit. It also helped us to get accustomed to the sort of pitches you are likely to get in these parts. So, we have acclimatised and we are ready to take on South Africa."

(See Windies coach pleased with Zimbabwe tour, B4)

WI gain

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

(CMC)

West Indies remain eighth in the LG International Cricket Council (ICC) one-day international (ODI) rankings, but improved their rating points with their handsome series win over Zimbabwe.

Their 3-1 series triumph over Zimbabwe has moved the Caribbean side back into rating points triple figures in the LG ICC ODI Cham-pionship table.

Rating points

Having lost the first ODI in Harare, the West Indies had dropped down to 99 rating points, but by winning the next three matches, they got back up to 100.

They are now seven ratings points behind England (107) and Pakistan (107) and eight behind 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) runners-up Sri Lanka (108).

Australia, with 128 points, remain number one, ahead of South Africa (124), followed by New Zealand (113), India (110) and Sri Lanka.