West Indies make two major changes to reignite series hopes against New Zealand

Batting allrounder Justin Greaves and top-order batter Brandon King have been added to West Indies squad for the last two ODIs against New Zealand. The duo replaces Roston Chase and John Campbell, respectively, as Windies trail 2-1. Both Chase and Campbell have been ruled out for the remainder of the series with injuries. 

Opener Campbell hurt his left hamstring while batting in the third ODI at Providence Stadium and was forced to retire hurt. He will be taken for scans to assess the extent of his injury and how long he will be sidelined.

Meanwhile, Chase has been out of action since the second Test against Sri Lanka after suffering a laceration to his right index finger.

For the unversed, Greaves was also battling a back injury and was sidelined after being initially named in the squad for the New Zealand series. However, he is now fit and raring to go, which is a big positive for the Men in Maroon. He was replaced by Shimron Hetmyer in the squad. Hetmyer was looking in good touch in the third ODI as he raced to 26 off just deliveries, hammering two sixes on the way. However, he couldn't time a slog sweep to perfection and holed out at deep square leg.

Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Khary Pierre will take no further part in the series and has returned home after playing all three games. He claimed four wickets at an average of 24.50 and an economy rate of 3.37.

Unable to even reach 150 and play their entire quota of 50 overs, the hosts have been substandard with the bat in the last two ODIs.

The Windies batters have found it extremely difficult to take on the Kiwi spinners, allowing them to take flight on surfaces which have aided spin. The decision to bring Greaves and King into the squad is to bolster the batting line-up, which has looked shaky in the last two one-dayers. The hosts can also take heart from the fact that the series is now moving to the Kensington Oval in Barbados and might not offer the kind of help that we saw in Guyana.

West Indies squad for last two ODIs vs New Zealand

Shai Hope (c, wk), Ackeem Auguste, Keacy Carty, Matthew Forde, Justin Greaves, Shimron Hetmyer, Amir Jangoo, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Vitel Lawes, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales