Selman, Connell ruled out in further blow to Windies

The Windies’ faltering ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 campaign received another setback with Shakera Selman and Shamilia Connell, its first-choice new-ball pair, both ruled out of the rest of the tournament.

They have been replaced in the squad with Subrina Munroe and Kycia Knight, the International Cricket Council said on Sunday.

Selman was struck on the head while fielding at short-leg in Windies’ opening loss to Australia. A well-set Nicole Bolton had whacked a short Hayley Matthews delivery at her, and Selman, despite the helmet, had to gingerly walk back.

Connell suffered a hip injury against India, only bowling four overs for 23 runs in the seven-wicket loss before leaving the field.

Windies, which was ripped apart by South Africa on Sunday as its total of 48 all out would suggest, will hope to bank on the experience of Munroe and Kycia for the remaining four games. Qiana Joseph, the 16-year-old, had opened the bowling alongside Deandra Dottin in the South Africa game in an unfortunate ODI debut for the youngster when she went for 19 runs in two overs.

Kycia, the left-hand wicketkeeper-batter, will join her twin Kyshona in the side. Kycia, 25, has 762 runs from 44 matches, and most recently turned out for the Caribbean side in its series against India, making a career-best half-century in the final game.

Munroe, 32, last played internationally in late 2014. She has 11 wickets from 23 ODIs.

The replacements were approved by the World Cup event technical committee comprising Geoff Allardice, the chairman, Campbell Jamieson, the ICC representative, Steve Elworthy, the tournament director, Alan Fordham, the host representative, and Anjum Chopra and Alison Mitchell, both independent nominees.

Windies next plays New Zealand on Wednesday in Taunton. Stafanie Taylor, the ICC World Twenty20-winning captain, has urged her senior players, some of whom were in tears after the latest embarrassing loss, to step up and dig deep.

“We’re disappointed, the whole team. Nobody has been able to execute or get big scores,” said Matthews, the opener. “These next couple of games, we’ve to try to go into them head-on. Even if we can’t qualify, just be able to take something – respect – (from) those games. We still have a possibility of qualifying, so we need to go out there and fight as hard as possible.”