West Indies veteran Kemar Roach suffered a hamstring injury late on the first day of the third Test and did not take the field for the second day’s proceedings. Along with him, Shai Hope also had to be out of the field due to ill health.
West Indies are on New Zealand tour after losing series against Australia and India in this WTC cycle. Although they started the series with a shock draw, the Blackcaps bounced back in the very next game as Justin Greaves combined with Shai Hope to save them a sixth straight defeat.
Rachin Ravindra’s brilliant innings helped New Zealand stage a comeback and move up to fourth place in the WTC points table, leaving behind India, England and Pakistan as they won their first Test of this WTC.
Kemar Roach unavailable due to hamstring injury
The performance of fast bowlers has not been good in the New Zealand vs West Indies Test series. Throughout the Test series, the fast bowlers have gone down, and unfortunately, this trend has taken over the team’s most experienced fast bowler, Kemar Roach.
West Indies were already under a lot of pressure after the first day, as they managed to take only one wicket, that of New Zealand captain Tom Latham and the experienced Kemar Roach. However, he did not take the field on the second day.
The West Indies senior professional suffered a hamstring strain in the 89th over of the game and did not participate in any of the morning warm-up to begin the second day’s proceedings. Later, he did not even come on the field.
The bowling deck was managed solely by Jayden Seales, who does not boast an astonishing record in overseas Tests and was supported by Anderson Phillip and Justin Greaves. The captain bowled the most overs as the only spinner in the team.
Shai Hope also remained in the team hotel due to ill health.
Apart from Kemar Roach, West Indies batsman Shai Hope, one of the most reliable batsmen of the team, also had to stay in the team hotel due to unwell. West Indies are behind by 575 runs in their batting innings on the strength of Devon Conway’s double century.
Although West Indies openers John Campbell and Brandon King got them off to a strong start with an opening century partnership, a rare sight for the Windies, they will still need their most in-form batsman Shai Hope to be available on the third day of play as they look to level the series or at least avoid further defeat in the WTC.
West Indies suffered so many injuries that at one point, when Justin Greaves had to go off the field, Tauranga local boy Sebastian Heath had to come in and field as a substitute for West Indies, as substitute fielders Ojay Shields and Tagenarine Chanderpaul were already suffering from niggles.
New Zealand has lost many of its players due to injuries in this series.
Coming into the third Test, New Zealand have already lost many of their resources during this series. In the first Test in Christchurch, two bowlers, Matt Henry and Nathan Smith, were dismissed.
The participation of Blair Tickner, who came for the second Test, was reduced. Tom Blundell, on the other hand, was the only batsman who was forced off the field on the first day of the series with a hamstring injury, but later recovered to be a part of the third Test.
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