By ESPNcricinfo Staff
West Indies opening batsman Brandon King will miss the remainder of the T20 World Cup 2024 due to a side strain he sustained during the Super Eight defeat to England on June 19.
Left-handed opening batsman Kyle Mayers will replace King for the remainder of the tournament, and is likely to join up with the team on Saturday.
Sent in to bat by England captain Jos Buttler at Gros Islet, King smashed 23 off just 12 balls, including a 101-metre six off Reece Topley in the third over. But on the 13th ball, King was injured as he charged down the track to hit Sam Curran through the covers. He was attended to by the medical staff but was unable to continue and was dismissed injured at 23, with West Indies eventually losing by eight wickets.
King did not feature in the run-chase and was replaced by Shimron Hetmyer, who was waiting for the results of an MRI scan and travelled to Barbados to play in Friday’s Super Eight series against the West Indies by the United States but was unavailable.
“The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Event Technical Committee has approved left-hand batsman Kyle Mayers as a replacement for Brandon King in the West Indies squad,” an ICC statement said. “Mayers, who has played 37 T20Is, has been named as a replacement after King was ruled out with a side strain. Mayers is expected to join up with the team on Saturday.”
King’s absence is a big blow for the West Indies. He has been the team’s leading run-scorer in T20Is since the start of 2023, scoring 651 runs in 23 innings, including four fifties. He was also the leading run-scorer in the 3-0 T20I series sweep against South Africa prior to the tournament.
The 29-year-old failed to make a splash in the T20 World Cup, scoring just 86 in five innings against Papua New Guinea with a highest score of just 34.
Substitute Mayers is widely considered to have been unlucky to miss the first cut despite a decent performance in 2024. In 11 T20 games this year, the left-hander has scored 367 runs at a batting average of 155.50 and has also picked up nine wickets at a medium pace.
The West Indies won four of their four group stage matches but started the Super Eight with a loss and will face the United States in Barbados on Friday before taking on South Africa in North Sound, Antigua, on Sunday.