Kesrick Williams, the West Indies fast bowler, has been called in to replace an injured Shanon Gabriel for the final ODI against Afghanistan. Gabriel suffered a side strain during the second ODI of the series and has been deemed unfit for the final ODI. Hence, selectors decided to straightway call in a replacement in the ultimate decider of the series.
Williams has played a total of 8 T20Is for West Indies, where he has scalped a total of 14 wickets. His last game came against Afghanistan during the recently concluded T20I series, where the hosts whitewashed the visitors by a margin of 3-0. Williams bagged eight wickets in three games, with best figures of 3/11. He is a perfect replacement for Gabriel, keeping in mind his recent success against the same team. There might be a case when he might be given his ODI cap right away in the third ODI.
The third and final ODI of the series will be played at Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia on June 14. Both the teams have won a game each.
In the first ODI, Afghanistan rode on a brilliant seven-wicket haul from Rashid Khan and successfully defended a total of 212, by bowling out hosts on a mere score of 149. In the next game as well, Afghanistan was bowled out for 135, which West Indies chased only after losing six wickets and consuming 39.2 overs. Afghanistan will hope Rashid Khan to do the trick for them so as to take away the ODI series.
Prior to the ODI series, both the teams met each other in three matches T20I series, where the current T20I champions defeated Afghanistan and crushed them in all the three matches, to take a perfect revenge of the loss which they suffered during the T20 World Cup played in India.
West Indies, who could not qualify for Champions Trophy 2017, would be hoping for a series victory here to improve their rankings.