Jamaica Tallawahs CEO Jeff Miller said batsman Andre McCarthy is devastated that he will not be able to play in the 2020 CPL season that begins in Trinidad later this month.

 McCarthy, 33, and 21-year-old Jeavor Royal, a slow, left-arm spinner will both miss this season after they were exposed to someone who had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus just days before they were to depart for Trinidad on Monday.

According to Miller, who was in his first day of a 14-day quarantine period at his hotel in Trinidad, said he was disappointed that the players will not be in the squad but the health and safety of the other players had to be protected.

He explained McCarthy and Royal had tested negative for the virus and would have to take another test in seven days. However, by then it would be too late as there are no commercial flights going into Trinidad.

Consequently, they have been permanently replaced by Jermaine Blackwood and Romel Lewis, who Miller said were already on the Tallawahs’ radar. They were on their way to Trinidad on a charter flight Monday night.

“This is a devastating blow to McCarthy,” Miller said. “He wanted to prove a lot of his critics wrong.”

The Tallawahs had already lost the services of Tabraiz Shamsi, who was unable to travel to the Caribbean because of flight restrictions in South Africa. Mujeed Rahman, the 19-year-old sensation from Afghanistan, has replaced Shamsi on the team roster.

Rahman has 17 wickets from 16 matches in the IPL and has 25 wickets in 19 T20 international matches for his country.