West Indies vs New Zealand: Big setback for hosts as Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul ruled out of ODI series

West Indies suffered big blows ahead of their upcoming ODI series against New Zealand with star all-rounder Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul and Gudakesh Motie have been ruled out of the series. From the original squad, left-handed batter Shimron Hetmyer is unavailable due to personal reasons; allrounder 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 allrounder 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. Odean Smith, the seam-bowling all-rounder, has been added as a reserve. 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, August 17. All three ODIs will be day/night matches played under floodlights at Kensington Oval with the 2nd and 3rd CG United ODIs on August 19 and 21. “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,” CWI’s lead selector, Desmond Haynes, said. West Indies ODI squad: Nicholas Pooran (capt), Shai Hope, Jermaine Blackwood, Shamarh Brooks, Yannic Cariah, Keacy Carty, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Jayden Seales and Kevin Sinclair.