Hetmyer, Paul and Motie out of ODI series; Blackwood and Cariah called up

The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Senior Men’s Selection Panel on Tuesday announced changes to the West Indies squad for the three-match CG United One-Day International (ODI) Series against New Zealand, which starts on Wednesday.

All three ODIs will be day/night matches played under floodlights at Kensington Oval with the second and third CG United ODIs on August 19 and 21.

From the original squad, left-handed batter Shimron Hetmyer is unavailable due to personal reasons; all-rounder Keemo Paul is ruled out with an injury and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie has failed to recover from the hand injury sustained during the CG United Series against India last month.

The replacements are middle-order batter Jermaine Blackwood and leg-spinning all-rounder Yannic Cariah. Blackwood is called up for the ODI squad for the first time since 2015.

Cariah earns his first squad call-up for the West Indies after being promoted from the West Indies A squad that has been playing against Bangladesh. Cariah captained the West Indies Emerging Players team that won the CG United Super50 Cup (then the Colonial Insurance Super50 Cup) in 2019. Odean Smith, the seam-bowling all-rounder, has been added as a reserve.

CWI’s Lead Selector, The Most Hon Dr. Desmond Haynes, said: “Hetmyer has to attend to a family matter in Guyana. Unfortunately, Motie is not yet able to rejoin the squad and Keemo is struggling with an injury. However, it provides an opportunity for Yannic Cariah to get a chance. He is someone that has been performing well on the regional circuit and we feel now is the right time to integrate him into the senior team set-up. Odean Smith has been added on the back of some notable performances in the T20I Series. He has displayed the all-round ability to change games and we look forward to his continued development.”

The three matches are West Indies’ last remaining three fixtures in the ICC ODI Super League as West Indies aim to automatically qualify for the 2023 ICC World Cup in India. West Indies will be seeking to win the CG United ODI Series to secure one of the automatic qualification places reserved for the top 7 teams in the ODI Super League table, excluding hosts India.

Fans can purchase their tickets at tickets.windiestickets.com or via www.windiescricket.com/tickets avoiding the need to queue or travel and to choose their preferred seat.

The Windies Tickets service, presented by Mastercard, provides advance tickets for every West Indies home fixture, delivering tickets securely and directly to fans’ ticket accounts to store on their mobile devices or to print out for entry into to the stadium.

The stadium venue box office, located along Fontabelle Road close to the Kensington Oval gates, is also open daily from 9am to 5pm for patrons to make in-person ticket purchase.

For all matches, adults can purchase half price tickets for children under the age of 16 and seniors can also benefit from half price tickets as well. Fans in the West Indies can watch the CG United ODI Series exclusively live on ESPN Caribbean or listen to live radio commentary on the West Indies YouTube channel . Fans in New Zealand can watch exclusively live on Sky Sport.

FULL SQUAD: Nicholas Pooran (Captain), Shai Hope (Vice-Captain), Jermaine Blackwood, Shamarh Brooks, Yannic Cariah, Keacy Carty, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair.

Travelling Reserve: Odean Smith

MATCH SCHEDULE

Wednesday 17 August: 1st CG United ODI at Kensington Oval, Barbados. Local start time 2pm/1pm Jamaica

Friday 19 August: 2nd CG United ODI at Kensington Oval. Local start time 2pm/1pm Jamaica

Sunday 21 August: 3rd CG United ODI at Kensington Oval. Local start time 2pm/1pm Jamaica (CWI)