West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree will miss the two T20 matches to be played in Sri Lanka later this month as he has contracted the dengue fever.
Badree speaking to Guardian Media yesterday said: “I have contracted dengue fever and have contacted the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and informed them that I will be unable to travel to Sri Lanka to play the T20s.” West Indies will face Sri Lanka in two matches, the first being on Monday, November 9 at Pallekele and the second on Thursday, November 12 at the Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Badree was expected to be a major weapon for the West Indies in the series, as he bowled brilliantly in the finals of the World T20, in 2012, when the West Indies defeated Sri Lanka at home.
Badree was due to leave the Caribbean yesterday for Sri Lanka and with the news of his dengue coming to hand over the weekend, the WICB selectors might just keep back one of the players from the ODI squad, instead of flying out a replacement from the Caribbean.
The other players who flew out from the Caribbean yesterday were Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard from T&T and skipper Darren Sammy from St Lucia. The man to replace Badree is the Guyanese leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo who was chosen for the ODI squad, so he is still in Sri Lanka.
Bishoo bowled brilliantly for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the 2015 Caribbean Premier League CPL T20 tournament, so he has proven in capabilities in the shortest format of the game. The West Indies are currently ranked fourth on the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 rankings and if they defeat the top side in this format Sri Lanka, they will move into second place.
The West Indies are a feared side in T20 cricket as can be seen in their rakings, while they continue to struggle in Tests, ranked eight and ODIs also ranked eight.