PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):
West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales will not be available for selection for any cricket until around April next year as he recovers from surgery to correct an injury to his left knee, the coach confirmed on Tuesday of Red Force David Furlonge.
Seales, who was rested for the second Test in the recent two-match series against Australia, which the West Indies lost, will miss the men’s Caribbean tour in South Africa in March 2023, when the regional team plays two Tests, three one-day internationals and three T20 internationals.
The 21-year-old will also be ruled out of selection for the Red Force squad for the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Four-Day Championship starting in February.
“Jayden is injured now and is probably out of cricket for about four months. He has a knee injury and had an operation. After four months, he should be able to come back and play. He has already started rehab, Furlonge was quoted as saying. as it is said in Trinidad and Tobago Newsday Newspaper.
Seales picked up his first Test cap at the age of 19 against South Africa in St Lucia in June 2021. He became the youngest West Indian bowler in history to take five wickets in a Test match against Pakistan in Jamaica (5- 55 in the second innings) to follow 3-70 in the first innings.
Furlonge said his absence from the national team for the upcoming four-day competition would be a big blow, as he also admitted that Trinidadian bowlers Anderson Phillip and Shannon Gabriel could also be selected for the South Africa tour.
He said that would leave the Red Force with “a very inexperienced fast bowling line-up”.
“So we’re looking to see how we can best prepare our fast bowlers. A lot of the younger fast bowlers would never have played a three-day game, let alone a four- daily. They will need a lot to prepare in time.
“We have increased our work for our fast bowlers who are available to suit up and play 15 overs a day. We have to make sure we have the right reserves in place so we can mount a challenge. We we are making more demands of them and, hopefully, they are up for the challenge,” he said.
