Shai Hope has replaced debutant Jeremy Solozano as his concussion substitute in the West Indies XI after Solozano was confirmed to have suffered a concussion.
Solozano spent the night in a Colombo hospital under observation after he was hit on the head while fielding on the first day of the opening Test against Sri Lanka. His scans on Sunday showed no structural damage.
Solozano will now return to the team hotel and “begin undergoing the appropriate protocol,” CWI confirmed in a tweet as lunch was taken on the second day of the Test.
Solozano was taken off the field on a stretcher on Sunday and transferred to a hospital from the Galle Stadium in an ambulance for scans, after being hit on the helmet while fielding at short leg. The incident happened just before the lunch break. Solozano was taken to a hospital in Colombo, which is more than an hour away by road.
He was hit on the front of the helmet near the forehead on the fourth ball of the 24th over when Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne pulled a short ball from Roston Chase. The batter had middled the ball and Solozano had barely any time to react or take evasive action.
Solozano lay still on the ground for several minutes after that but appeared conscious as he got medical attention and players of both teams surrounded him. He was also seen talking briefly before his forehead was covered with a towel, probably because of the heat as the mid-day sun was beating down hard.
A worried-looking Phil Simmons, the head coach, came down the dressing room stairs and stood near the boundary rope before Solozano was stretchered off the field and into the ambulance near the boundary.
Solozano, the 26-year-old left-hand batter from Trinidad, who had played 40 first-class games before this, was earlier handed his Test cap by Simmons before play and was set to open for West Indies later in the game. He had played in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup, and has also represented West Indies A.
He scored 74 off 216 balls in the second of the two intra-squad “Best vs Best” matches in Antigua before the Sri Lanka tour, with lead selector Roger Harper praising his “application, patience and composure”. (ESPNcricinfo)
