Banks Out of South Africa Tour

They're falling like flies in South Africa and Omari Banks is the latest victim of a severe injury bug that has struck the touring West Indies team.

A stress fracture to his lower back has ruled the Anguillan all-rounder out of the South Africa tour and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced on Monday that Banks will be out of cricket for the next three months.

Banks had a cortisone shot over the weekend to deal with what team manager Ricky Skerritt described as "unusual inflammation" of the lower back region but there was no improvement, meaning the 21-year-old off-spinner will travel back to the Caribbean.

Fast bowler Daren Powell, who is already in South Africa playing first class cricket for Gauteng, is the obvious choice to replace Banks. However, at press time, Powell had not been contacted by the West Indies selectors or anyone at the WICB.

Another possibility is off-spinner Gareth Breese, who was shortlisted as a potential replacement when Jerome Taylor was forced out of the tour with a lower back sprain.

Banks is the third player to be forced out of the tour so far after Taylor and Marlon Samuels. Left-arm wrist spinner Dave Mohamed and right-hand middle order batsman Dwayne Smith have been called up as replacements.

Mohamed and Smith have not yet arrived in South Africa because of the slow pace of securing visas in the Caribbean. Sources say the WICB spent an inordinate amount of time sending passports to Jamaica to get visas and other immigration requirements before Mohamed and Smith could depart for South Africa, via London.

Meanwhile, pacers Vasbert Drakes (side strain) and Corey Collymore (hamstring) are also nursing injuries. Both are expected to be fit enough to play the first Test, beginning December 12.