Hales underwent surgery on his hand last week

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

England opening batsman Alex Hales has been ruled out of his side’s ODI tour of the Caribbean in March due to a broken hand.

Hales sustained the injury while diving to try and take a catch in the second ODI against India in Cuttack and will subsequently play no part in the three-match ODI series against the West Indies.

Despite losing their go-to opening batsman, England have opted not to replace him and will head to the Caribbean with a 14-man squad.

Batsman Ben Duckett continued to be overlooked despite averaging 41 in the format, while veteran pace bowler Stuart Broad suffered the same fate.

Sam Billings, on the other hand, was retained and is likely to keep opening the batting with Jason Roy.

“There is a huge emphasis on white-ball cricket during the first half of 2017, as we continue our preparation ahead of this summer’s ICC Champions Trophy tournament in England,” national selector James Whitaker said. “We felt it was important to keep faith with the squad that competed during the recent tour of India. The current group of players are making excellent progress under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan and head coach Trevor Bayliss and the tour of the Caribbean will enable the team to test themselves in different conditions against a competitive side in the West Indies.”

England will arrive in St. Kitts and Nevis on February 22 before playing two warm-up games on February 25 and February 27. The ODI series between them and the West Indies will get underway on March 3 in Antigua.