Injury Bug Bites: Hinds Out

Fri, Oct 28, '05

West Indies left-hander Wavell Hinds has suffered a fractured pinky on his left hand on the first day of the tour match against Queensland in Brisbane, an injury that rules him out of the first Test match.

Hinds, a veteran of 44 Tests, was expected to move down the order in the Test series but when he fractured the finger diving to stop a ball, he lost a chance to solidify a place in the West Indies batting line-up.

Hinds must keep his finger immobilised for 10 days, meaning he will take no further part in the current game. In addition to missing the first Test against Australia which starts on November 3, the Jamaican batsman will also miss the second warm-up game against Victoria (November 11th - 13th).

Hinds will remain with the squad in Australia. He is expected to be available for the second test match in Hobart (November 17th - 21st).

The injury to Hinds sets up a straight battle between Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Smith for a spot in the batting line-up for the first Test.

Samuels is playing in the Queensland warm-up game and is likely to slot into the lower middle-order position.

Another worry for the West Indies is a side strain suffered by pacer Daren Powell during the first day against Queensland. Powell bowled well with the new ball to pick up 4-58 and help the tourists bowl out Queensland for 323 but left the field early with the injury.

Jermaine Lawson, who has not played any cricket since the tour of Sri Lanka, was inexplicably left out of the Queensland warm-up game. Lawson recently had a minor ankle operation that forced him to miss the local KFC Cup one-day tournament.

The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation reported that vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan is also nursing injuries but team spokesman Imran Khan dismissed the report as inaccurate.