However, he has asked for the public to be patient with the team’s batsmen, whom he believes will eventually deliver to their full potential.
Seales, 19, took eight wickets in the recently concluded first Betway Test against Pakistan at Sabina Park that the West Indies won by one wicket. During the Pakistan second innings, Seales took career-best figures of 5-55 and became the youngest West Indies bowler to take five wickets in an innings as the West Indies bowled the visitors for 203.
He and Roach then stitched together an unbroken 10th wicket partnership of 17 to lead the West Indies to victory.
During a virtual press conference with the media on Monday, Roach said he believes Seales has a bright future.
“He has come into the family. I have the greatest hopes for him. He is a good student. He listens, he works really hard and he is learning every day,” Roach said, highlighting that Seales is yet another member of a talented group of bowlers that the West Indies have at its disposal.
“Obviously, with Shannon (Gabriel) back when he is ready, myself, Jason (Holder), him (Seales); Alzarri is there and there are a couple of other guys in the Caribbean, Chemar Holder, Keon Harding, Preston McSween; we have a really good corps fast bowlers coming through.
“So, I believe in any one of them at any point in time, once given the opportunity will get the job done. They just have to stay together, keep working hard, keep communicating and keep working on their skills. I don’t see no limit when it comes to our bowling attack challenging any Test line up so there is a great future for us in the fast bowling department for sure.”
With regards to the batsmen, especially those in the top order, Roach asked for patience.
“We don’t have a huge pool of batsmen in the Caribbean, so we have got to try and believe in these guys. They have the capabilities; we all know they do. It’s just about applying themselves and believing in themselves some more,” he said.
“I am totally behind them. We talk. As bowlers, we usually give them information about how best to handle situations from a bowling point of view. They work hard. One thing about this team is it’s a very hard-working team.
“It’s a lot of work being put in behind the scenes. I really feel for the batsmen because I know the work they do and it’s about time they get some returns so people can see it, but that time will come.”
In a match that lasted less than three days, the accomplishments of both players were overshadowed by the loss but were no less significant in the rich history of great performances by players from the West Indies.
The 34-year-old Roach had match figures of 1-71 and 5-47 during the match in which he picked up his 260th Test wicket and became the fifth most successful West Indies bowler behind Courtney Walsh (519), Curtly Ambrose (405) Malcolm Marshall (376) and Lance Gibbs (305).
His five-wicket haul in the second innings that helped bowl South Africa out for 116, was the 11th of his career that has so far lasted 76 matches since he made his debut against Bangladesh in July 2009.
Joshua Da Silva, meanwhile, playing in his 21st Test, joined now retired West Indies wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs in a pantheon of five ‘keepers who have had seven dismissals in one innings. Other than Jacobs, the only other players to have accomplished the feat were Pakistan’s Wasim Bari, England’s Bob Taylor, and New Zealand’s Ian Smith.
Both players will get the chance to add to their records when the second Test between the West Indies and South Africa bowls off on Thursday, March 8 at Wanderers. The West Indies will be hoping to produce a better performance with the bat and level the series that South Africa now leads 1-0.
The 24-year-old, right-arm fast-medium bowler will replace Romario Shepherd who has been withdrawn after he tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, according to sports broadcaster Andrew Mason.
Harding has played 17 First-Class matches during which he has taken 54 wickets at an average of 25.11. His best bowling performance came against Trinidad and Tobago in February 2020 when he took 10 wickets in the match with a best of 5 for 19 in TT’s second innings.
The loss of Shepherd, though, will be a major blow to the West Indies, who were already without a number of stars including Captain Jason Holder, Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Kieron Pollard, Shai Hope, Sheldon Cottrell and Nicholas Pooran for the tour set to take place between late January and February this year.
Shepherd scored a century and a 50 during the recent West Indies ‘A’ tour of New Zealand and was one of the shining lights in an otherwise disastrous tour. He also took two wickets in the unofficial two-Test series.
Pollard becomes part of the England set-up specifically as an assistant coach for the June tournament.
The 36-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago will provide expertise of Caribbean conditions with the competition being co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States.
Former Somerset all-rounder Pollard helped the West Indies win the T20 World Cup in 2012 and has played a record 600-plus matches in the format.
The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup will be held between June 4 and June 30 next year, with the final to be staged at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
England will defend the title they won for the second time in Australia 13 months ago in a tournament expanded from 16 to 20 teams.
In his first T20I as captain, King top-scored with 79 from 45 balls during the first international at Sabina Park in nearly two years.
The 29-year-old set the forthcoming T20 World Cup co-hosts on their way with a 79-run partnership with Kyle Mayers helping them to 109/1 after 10 overs.
However, they struggled to build on that momentum and were 66/7 thereon to finish on 175/8 with Ottneil Baartman and Andile Phehlukwayo both taking three wickets apiece.
South Africa were slow out of the blocks with Quinton de Kock failing to reach double figures as they were reduced to 35/3 in the fifth over, and required 99 runs to win at the halfway point in their innings.
Reeza Hendricks - the only visiting player to score more than 20 - put on an impressive late surge of 87 off 51 balls, but it proved academic with the Proteas bowled out for 147.
Data debrief
Becoming the 14th different player to captain West Indies in men's T20Is, King will have been pleased to start his reign against South Africa - the nation against whom he boasted his best T20I batting strike in the format (171.4).
He certainly continued in that vein, reaching 50 off just 26 balls for his fastest T20I half-century. It proved crucial as the hosts went on to record their biggest margin of victory over the Proteas when batting first.
After entering the batting line-up at six, with the team struggling at 4 for 60, King made a valuable 91 not out to guide the Windies to a 5 wicket win at Amstelveen.
The half-century was King’s second of the series, having scored 58 in the first match. Overall, in the last nine matches, King has averaged 41.57 and hopes to keep accumulating high scores.
“As cricketers when times are good you have to try and cash in and score as many runs as possible,” King said following the match.
“I feel good out there so I’m trying to capitalize on that good form,” he added.
Over the past several series, King has shifted places in the team’s batting line-up, batting at 5 against The Neverlands, 2 in the previous series against India, and 4 against Ireland. Despite having success down the order in the ongoing series, King believes that versatility is one of his strengths.”
“A part of my strength is adapting and doing what is needed for the team. I can bat anywhere in the top 6. This was a new role given to me but it’s not unfamiliar I am a middle-order batsman first and foremost.”
The 28-year-old batted through the West Indian innings to help them post a formidable 176-7 from their 20 overs on a St. George’s pitch that offered a lot to the bowlers.
“We found it a bit difficult to start. It’s a low and slow pitch. Not what we’re used to here, we usually get a good batting wicket, so, we had to assess very quickly,” said King in a post-match interview.
“We lost some early wickets so we had to try and decide how to go about it in a smart way,” he added.
Individually, King made 82* off 52 balls, his eighth fifty in T20 Internationals, hitting eight fours and five sixes. His first run of the innings was also his 1000th in T20Is.
“I think there’s always some level of luck involved as well,” King said about being able to bat through the innings on that pitch.
“I was the one that got the start in the powerplay. It was difficult for new batters to come in and get going, especially against the spinners. We lost some early wickets so, given that I got the start, I tried to take it as deep as possible,” he added.
The hosts lost the wickets of Kyle Mayers (17), Nicholas Pooran (5), Shai Hope (1) and Shimron Hetmyer (2) all within the first 10 overs of their innings before King and skipper Rovman Powell combined to put on 80 for the fifth wicket.
“Extremely crucial,” was how King described Powell’s innings of 50 from 28 balls including a 30-run 16th over off Sam Curran.
“A fantastic innings from him. He eased the pressure off me a little bit as well. Nobody has the power that he has. There are some shots only he can play so it was very important at that stage of the innings that he got those quick runs,” King added.
Powell’s heroics were needed after England’s spin duo of Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed accounted for the wickets of Pooran, Hope and Hetmyer.
“The spinners. You could see from early they were getting some purchase from the wicket with the new ball. Adil Rashid is obviously a very experienced bowler who knows how to bowl around the world. He bowled an excellent spell. It was important to us to not give him too many wickets and take the majority of the runs off the pace bowlers,” King said.
On the bowling side for the West Indies, King said his teammates did well to follow the game plan and use information from their own innings.
“Taking the information from the first innings, we knew what lengths were difficult. We went out and tried to apply that in the field. The guys fielded well as well so we’re very happy with that,” he said.
He also singled out Gudakesh Motie for conceding just nine runs in his spell.
“Excellent spell from him. To bowl four overs for nine runs in a T20 game is amazing. A good call from the skipper and the coach to bring him in for this game. Obviously, they read the pitch very well so he was crucial for us today,” he said.
The West indies will have a chance to clinch the series with on Saturday in the third T20I beginning at 12:30pm Jamaica Time (1:30pm ECT) at the same venue.
Chasing 222 for victory the West Indies reached their target in the 40th over. King scored an even 100 and Captain Shai Hope, an unbeaten 63 to secure their first win in the Super Six stage of the tournament.
With both teams already eliminated from contention from qualifying for the ICC World Cup in India later this year, the match was of academic interest.
However, the West Indies were looking to save face after losing to the Netherlands and Scotland in consecutive matches. After winning the toss, Hope asked Oman to take first strike.
The bulk of the scoring came from Suraj Kumar, whose unbeaten 53 and Shaoib Khan, an even 50, helped Oman to 221-9. Opener Kashyap Prajapati got 31 and Aayan Khan, 30, in the face of accurate bowling from Romario Shepherd who took 3-44 and Kyle Mayers 2-31 from seven overs.
Kevin Sinclair, who replaced the injured Yannic Cariah in the West Indies squad finished with 1-42.
With the West Indies looking for their first points of the Super Six stage, they Caribbean side lost Johnson Charles for four with only seven runs on the board.
However, Keacy Carty and King settled nerves with an 80-run second wicket partnership before the latter was run out for 29. From there the West Indies were cruising as King and Hope steered the West Indies to the brink of victory with a third-wicket partnership of 96 that was broken when King feathered a catch through to wicketkeeper Kumar off the bowling of Bilal Khan for 100.
His second ODI century came off 104 deliveries and included 15 sublime boundaries.
Hope and Nicholas Pooran scored the remaining runs without much bother with Hope scoring his 23rd ODI 50 along the way. Pooran was unbeaten on 19 at the end.
The West Indies will play their final match of their failed campaign against Sri Lanka on Friday. Sri Lanka has already qualified for the ICC World Cup.
The day started brilliantly for the West Indies as the opening pair of King and Charles put on 129 for the first wicket after West Indian captain Shai Hope won the toss and chose to bat first.
In the process, Charles brought up his fifth ODI half-century before being dismissed for a rapid 47-ball 63. The St. Lucian hit eight fours and three sixes in his knock.
King, who brought up a maiden ODI hundred on the way to a man of the match performance in the first encounter, continued his good form with 64 off 70 balls including four fours and as many sixes.
The tourists then got solid contributions from Odean Smith (37), Keacy Carty (32), Kavem Hodge (26) as they were eventually bowled out for 306 with one ball to spare.
Zahoor Khan led the way with the ball for the UAE with 3-44 from 9.5 overs while Aayan Khan (2-45), Ali Naseer (2-69) and Sanchit Sharma (2-69) also provided good contributions.
The UAE reply looked to be coming to an end quickly at 95-5 in the 24th over before a fighting 80-run partnership between Basil Hameed and Ali Naseer brought some respectability to proceedings.
Hameed batted valiantly, facing 84 balls before he fell for 49. He hit a boundary and three sixes in his knock.
Meanwhile, Naseer, who struck a fifty in the series opener, got his second straight half-century with a 53-ball 57 including six fours and three sixes.
Vriitya Aravind also contributed 36 and Aayan Khan 23* as the UAE eventually made 227-7 off their 50 overs.
Kavem Hodge (2-46 from 8) and Roston Chase (2-49 from 10) were the day’s best bowlers for the West Indies while debutant, Akeem Jordan, Odean Smith and Yannic Cariah were the other wicket-takers.
The 31-year-old pace bowler was bought for a sizeable INR 8.5 crore ($US1,156,239) during the IPL 2020 auction but failed to justify the price tag. In six matches, Cottrell bowled 20 overs, claiming 6 wickets for 176 runs at an expensive economy rate of 8.80. Unfortunately, perhaps the player's biggest moment came after being on the wrong side of thrashing from Rajasthan Royals Rahul Tewatia, who smashed 5 sixes off one of his overs during a record run chase.
Gayle, on the other hand, was sensational. Despite starting the season on the sidelines, the big left-hander became the driving force behind the team's push for a playoff spot, although it ended with the team narrowly missing out on 6th spot. The West Indian had been left on the bench for the first seven games of the season. He was not picked for the first five, and food poisoning ruled him out for the next two. He ended with 288 runs at an average of 44.14 and a high score of 99.
India batsman Karun Nair is also expected to be released but the team remains undecided on Australian Glenn Maxwell, who had a mediocre IPL season but had a splendid series against India.
The 32-years-old West Indies bowler does indeed face the threat of suspension after being reported for a suspect action during KKR’s victory over Kings XI Punjab last week. The spinner is allowed to continue bowling, for now, but another report to the Indian Premier League (IPL) would see Narine suspended until cleared by the BCCI Suspect Bowling Action Committee.
Narine had performed heroics for KKR after defending 14 runs off the final over, to help his team register a stunning 2 runs victory over KXIP. Despite that, however, Pietersen insists the bowler has not quite been at the same level since his last suspension. Narine was previously suspended in 2015 when he was ranked No. 2 on the ODI and T20 rankings. His action was reported as suspect in successive matches during the Champions League Twenty20. It resulted in his missing out on playing in the final for Kolkata Knight Riders, who lost to Chennai Super Kings.
“If I am honest, I am not so sure it (Sunil Narine absence) is a massive loss. Andre Russell is the guy you spend time talking about in team meetings. When he bowls, you are thinking about it. When he bats, you are thinking about it. It is the same when he is fielding,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.
“Sunil Narine has not been the same bowler for a few years now. He hasn’t had his best; he hasn’t had his real big spin. Coming to Sharjah, it is not something you are really worried about Sunil Narine. And then the bowlers have found him out in his batting. You bowl him short, he doesn’t like it,” Pietersen added.
Narine ended with 2 wickets for 28 runs as KKR defended a par score of 164 to register their second win in a row and climb up to third position on the points table. The bowler artfully defended 14 runs off the final over to help his team stun KXIP by 2 runs. Following the match, however, an IPL release confirmed that the player’s bowling action was once again under scrutiny.
"Sunil Narine, the Kolkata Knight Riders player, has been reported for bowling with a Suspected Illegal Bowling Action during his side’s Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 match against Kings XI Punjab at Abu Dhabi,” the release stated.
"The report was made by the on-field umpires according to the IPL’s Suspected Illegal Bowling Action Policy. Mr. Narine will be placed on the Warning List and is permitted to continue to bowl in the tournament,” it continued.
"Another report will result in Mr. Narine being suspended from bowling in the Dream11 IPL 2020 until cleared by the BCCI Suspect Bowling Action Committee."
Narine's bowling action was previously reported for the same offense in 2015 and was banned from bowling off-spinners in that season and even missed the 50-over World Cup for the West Indies to work on his action.
Klaasen scored 119 off just 61 deliveries, completing a routine victory with three consecutive boundaries.
There were still 123 balls remaining, with South Africa's number five batter having accelerated the scoring just as the tourists had recovered some hope at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.
The Windies were all out for 260, losing their way after a strong start from Brandon King (72) lifted them to 110-1 in the 19th over.
King contributed to his team's downfall when he chose not to run and left partner Shamarh Brooks (18) stranded, slipping in the middle of the pitch for a run out that triggered a steady stream of Windies wickets.
It was still no sure thing the Proteas would chase down their target despite scoring at a good rate, losing four wickets inside 13 overs – including that of captain Aiden Markram for 25.
Yet Klaasen came to the fore, bringing up his hundred off just 54 balls to swiftly bring the finish line into sight.
A showstopping finale saw poor Yannic Cariah punished, conceding 49 runs off only three and a half overs as the Windies' hopes of a rare series win against South Africa were wiped out.
Windies' wait for series win goes on
West Indies have not beaten South Africa in a multi-game ODI series since April 1992, but this represented a real opportunity, leading 1-0 ahead of the final match after the opener was abandoned without a ball bowled.
A failure to capitalise on competitive starts to both innings extended that wait, although the Windies at least ended South Africa's run of seven straight series victories.
Klaasen crashes six after six
Coming into this match, South Africa had hit only 70 sixes in ODIs since the start of last year, compared to 143 for West Indies over the same period.
But Klaasen alone matched the Windies in that regard on Tuesday, smashing five maximums – as many as the entire touring team – to go with 15 fours in South Africa's fourth-fastest ODI century.
The bit-hitting all-rounder was forced to leave the field after making a good save on the mid-wicket boundary and jumped himself off the field as soon as he threw back the ball. The 33-year-old did not feature for the team against the Dehli Capitals, or Friday’s encounter against the Punjab Kings XI.
Despite Russell missing the second game in a row, Morgan did not shed any more light on the player’s current injury status.
“Lockie and Russell are being monitored day by day. They have to rehab extremely well in order to be fit,” Morgan said.
Earlier, David Hussey, KKR’s team mentor, had described Russell’s injury as a hamstring injury but expressed hope that the player could return to the line-up soon,
“He said he felt something pop in his leg, his hamstring. We’ve got the best medical staff in the business so they’ll tend to him and hopefully, it’s nothing too serious, because he’s a key part of our team,” Hussey said.
In addition to the Knight Riders, the West Indies will also be closely monitoring the situation, with the player expected to line up for the World T20 later this month.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who has the most wickets for India in the shortest format (79), is another key figure rested for the series, which starts on July 29 in Trinidad.
Kohli missed the opening ODI against England due to an apparent groin strain, with reports suggesting he had requested to be left out of the following limited-overs tour against the West Indies.
The 33-year-old has not scored a century in any format of cricket since November 2019, last doing so when he scored 136 in a Test against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens, leading to questions over his form.
Kohli is thought to still be in India's plans for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, though Rohit Sharma's side will do without the batter for the next series after naming their 18-man squad.
Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul are both set to return from injuries, subject to fitness, with Ravichandran Ashwin joining a spin department that already includes Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.
Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant were rested for the ODI series against West Indies, which precedes the T20I clashes, but are in the squad for the fixtures in the shortest format.
Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh was preferred ahead of quick Umran Malik in the pace bowling department, which includes Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel.
India T20I squad in full: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
*Inclusion of KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav is subject to fitness.
The hosts won the toss and decided to bowl first at the Queen’s Park Oval.
Based on proceedings on day one, that seemed like the wrong choice as India started the day with a 139-run opening partnership between first Test centurions Jaiswal and Sharma.
Jaiswal, who hit a magnificent 171 on debut in Dominica, made a 74-ball 57 while Sharma, India’s Captain who hit 103 in the last Test, fell for 80 off 143 balls with the score on 155 in the 39th over.
Jaiswal’s knock included nine fours and a six while Sharma hit nine fours and two sixes.
Shubman Gill (10) and Ajinkya Rahane (8) were the other Indian batsmen to fall before the end of play.
Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja will be at the crease when play continues tomorrow.
Kohli, who hit 76 in the first Test, will resume on 87* searching for his 29th Test hundred while Jadeja will resume on 36*. Kohli has, so far, faced 161 balls and hit eight fours.
Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel, Jomel Warrican and Jason Holder have each taken a wicket for the West Indies.
Brathwaite was selected after a prolific season which saw him make 687 runs at an average of 62.4. In seven matches in 2022, Brathwaite scored two hundreds and five fifties including a top-score of 160 against England in Barbados in March.
Joseph was named to the ODI team after taking 27 wickets in 17 matches, the most among fast bowlers, at an average of 25.7 in 2022.
ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year: Kraigg Brathwaite (West Indies), Usman Khawaja (Australia), Marnus Labuschangne (Australia), Joe Root (England), Jonny Bairstow (England), Ben Stokes (Captain, England), Rishabh Pant (Wicket-keeper, India), Pat Cummins (Australia), Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), Nathan Lyon (Australia), James Anderson (England).
ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year: Travis Head (Australia), Shubman Gill (India), Babar Azam (Captain, Pakistan), Shreyas Iyer (India), Tom Latham (Wicket-keeper, New Zealand), Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Bangladesh), Alzarri Joseph (West Indies), Mohammed Siraj (India), Adam Zampa (Australia), Trent Boult (New Zealand).
It didn't get better. Scores of 14, 1, 10 and 3 against India and 11 and 8 against Afghanistan saw him end the year badly. That was when he called upon one of the best openers in West Indies history.
“I had some words with Desmond Haynes back in Barbados. Me and him always had a good relationship because he was team manager for the Barbados team when I first started, so I had some chats with him. He was obviously an opener as well and that's been very beneficial to me,” said Brathwaite who was addressing the media from the West Indies training base in Manchester on Wednesday.
Those words have proven largely to have been beneficial.
"A lot of it is keeping it simple, you don't really want to complicate it too much. It's just simple advice, just about what he did back in the day. Three hours left in a day is always a tough period for an opener, or an hour. So it's just mental stuff that he helped me with... he was very strong mentally."
The last time Brathwaite was in England, he experienced much better fortunes just missing out on twin centuries when he scored 134 and 95 at Leeds where the West Indies won by five wickets.
The 27-year-old opener said whatever happened back then is of little consequence now as the first Test set to start on July 8 draws nearer. He said he is focused on doing well for the team now.
"That was almost three years ago. Looking back at stuff I did I can obviously see things I did well, but that's history. I have a current job to do here and I'm ready, I'm raring to go,” he said.
"I'm up for the challenge... I know all the guys here can do well. I'm starting the innings and I'm just going to do my job, it's as simple as that. I know we have a good batting line-up and everyone's ready and raring to go, so no added pressure really.
"We've got to score runs. Once you can put runs on the board, we put our team in a great position. We've still got to be disciplined with the ball but I think potentially, when we won the game at Headingley, we scored runs, we chased down over 300 runs, so we've just got to put runs on the board."
England's Shoaib Bashir was the star of the match, claiming his first five-wicket haul on English soil. His 5 for 41 wrapped up the West Indies innings inside 90 minutes of the final session, ensuring England's dominant victory.
Reflecting on the match, Brathwaite said, "I'm reasonably happy with the performance, but it could have been better with the ball. We were good in the first innings but didn't follow through in the second. The effort from the guys was there; the fitness is evident. We need to be much more disciplined. England showed us how to bowl on this pitch, particularly avoiding getting hit square of the wicket. But the guys will learn. Kavem's hundred followed by a duck is just how Test cricket goes."
Brathwaite continued, "We dropped some crucial catches, and that happens. We need to improve our line and length, but catches win matches. I wouldn't have expected that collapse, but it's gone, it's history. Test cricket is never an easy game. We've got to stay tough and keep fighting."
England's comprehensive win was set up by centuries from Joe Root and Harry Brook, who propelled the hosts to 425 in their second innings. This marked the first time in England's history that they scored over 400 runs in both innings of a Test. Chasing a daunting target of 385, the West Indies started positively, reaching 61 without loss thanks to Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis. However, a devastating spell from Chris Woakes and Bashir saw the team crumble, losing 5 for 21 in the space of 35 balls and ultimately bowled out for 143.
Brathwaite was the top scorer for the West Indies with 47 runs, but his efforts were overshadowed by Bashir's record-breaking performance. At 20 years and 282 days, Bashir became the youngest England bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a men's Test at home, surpassing the previous record held by recently retired seamer James Anderson.
England's first innings score of 416, bolstered by Ollie Pope's 121 and contributions from Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes, set the stage for their commanding position. The West Indies initially responded well with 457, featuring a century from Hodge and notable performances from Da Silva and Athanaze. However, the team faltered in their second innings, leading to a decisive English victory.
The left-hander's approval was confirmed by the tournament's Event Technical Committee on Friday.
Mayers, who has played 37 T20Is, was named as a replacement after King was ruled out due to a side strain which forced him to retire hurt in the Caribbean side's loss to England in St Lucia.
However, Mayers will not be involved in the clash of the co-hosts, as he is expected to join the squad on Saturday, and could possibly feature in their final Group 2 Super Eight contest against South Africa.
The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the player can be officially added to the squad.
The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 consists of Wasim Khan (ICC General Manager – Cricket), Chris Tetley (ICC Head of Events), Johnny Grave (CEO, Cricket West Indies) and Kass Naidoo (Independent Representative).
