Chinelle Henry to miss West Indies tour of England

Chinelle Henry will miss West Indies Women's tour of England with a leg injury and Rashada Williams has been left out of their limited-overs squad for three T20Is and three ODIs later this month.

Jahzara Claxton and Realeanna Grimmond have been called up in the only changes from the group that narrowly missed out on 50-over World Cup qualification in April.

Henry was West Indies' second-leading run-scorer at the ICC World Cup Qualifier in Pakistan, with 171 from five innings at a strike rate of 150.00. Williams did not have any involvement beyond the warm-up matches.

Henry also finished top of the run charts in the recently completed T20 Blaze competition in the Caribbean, although she was seen limping during her Jamaica side's defeat in the final, which Guyana won in a Super Over on Sunday. Grimmond, the 20-year-old allrounder who made 46 off 53 in Guyana's run chase, was the fourth-highest run-scorer in the Blaze.

Claxton, 19, was part of West Indies' squad at the Women's Under-19 World Cup earlier this year. She and Grimmond could both make their international debuts in England.

Deandra Dottin, who was sidelined for the World Cup Qualifier after a knee injury flared up during the WPL in March, will also miss the England tour.

West Indies head coach, Shane Dietz, has called on his players to use the tour to "reestablish ourselves as a world-class team" after they were edged out for a spot at the World Cup in India later this year on net run rate. Despite chasing 167 in 10.5 overs to beat Thailand, they finished behind Bangladesh by a margin of 0.013 on NRR.

"Going to England is a fantastic opportunity to play one of the best teams in the world for a long time and to really test our skills and put in practice what we've talked about off the pitch," Dietz said.

"The talk is cheap off the pitch; we're going to put that talk into action and go out against England and play some good cricket. We've got the T20Is first, and that's where we've played our better cricket in the past 12 to 18 months, so we're looking forward to getting the tour off to a good start and playing some good attacking cricket the West Indian way.

"We brought a good team to England and we're looking forward to putting on a good performance for the crowd over there and all our supporters watching back in the Caribbean. It's going to be an excellent tour for us to reestablish ourselves as a world-class team with world-class players.

"The girls have been working hard since the Pakistan qualification and playing some cricket at the T20 Blaze in the Caribbean. It's now time to switch up to international cricket, put on a good display and give our supporters something to cheer about back in the Caribbean."

Miles Bascombe, CWI Director of Cricket, said: "This upcoming tour of England offers our women an important opportunity to reassert themselves on the international stage. It's a chance to demonstrate the talent, grit, and character that are synonymous with West Indies cricket.

"The ongoing T20 Blaze competition has come at an opportune time, giving many of our senior and emerging players the chance to stay match-ready and sharpen their skills in a competitive environment. We remain committed to strengthening our women's programme and believe this tour is a vital step forward in our collective journey."

West Indies will start their tour by playing an England Development XI on Sunday, before the first T20I at Canterbury on May 21.

West Indies Women's limited-overs squad: Hayley Matthews (capt), Shemaine Campbelle (vice-capt), Aaliyah Alleyne, Jahzara Claxton, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Jannillea Glasgow, Realeanna Grimmond, Zaida James, Qiana Joseph, Mandy Mangru, Ashmini Munisar, Karishma Ramharack, Stafanie Taylor