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Bereaved Kemar Roach set to miss West Indies' warm-up match

West Indies in India 2018-19, Cricket

Kemar Roach will return to Barbados following the death of his grandmother and will rejoin West Indies' squad in India after her funeral. This means the fast bowler is likely to miss West Indies' two-day tour match against the Board President's XI in Vadodara. The match begins on September 29, and is West Indies' only warm-up match before their two-Test series against India, which begins in Rajkot on October 4.

Roach, as a result, could go into the first Test without any recent long-format match practice; his last red-ball match was the first Test against Bangladesh in Antigua in the first week of July. He took five wickets in the first innings of that Test match, but also picked up a hamstring injury and was rested for the second Test in Jamaica.

Since then, Roach's only top-level cricket has been a pair of T20 games for Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League in August.

The 30-year-old Roach is the most experienced of the five fast bowlers in West Indies' squad, having played 48 Tests since his debut in 2009. Shannon Gabriel (37 Tests) and Jason Holder (34) are the two other senior quicks, with Keemo Paul having played just the one Test so far and Sherman Lewis - who replaced the injured Alzarri Joseph - yet to make his debut.

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