Injury blow denies Westley tour place

Tom Westley has been ruled out for 12 weeks with the finger injury he sustained on England Lions duty in Australia.

The Essex batsman, who failed to stake a claim for a place on the Ashes tour during five unconvincing Tests this summer, will be unavailable for the trip to the West Indies in February.

“Tom Westley has had successful surgery in Leeds on the finger injury he sustained fielding for England Lions in their three-day match against a Queensland Select in Brisbane last week,” the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement.

The Essex batsman will be out for around 12 weeks, ruling him out of contention for the Lions’ tour of West Indies during the early part of 2018.

The West Indies collapsed on day four of the first Test against New Zealand as the Black Caps claimed victory in Wellington by an innings and 67 runs.

Kraigg Brathwaite and Shimron Hetmyer had helped cut West Indies’ deficit to 172 runs on day three as New Zealand struggled to take wickets – ending the day at 214-2.

But New Zealand did not face the same problem, seeing off the Windies for 319 in under an hour after the lunch break.

Brathwaite, who had a short spell for Yorkshire earlier this year, was caugh lbw on 91.

A clatter of wickets then saw the West Indies collapse from 288-7 to 319 all out – 67 runs short of making their hosts bat again.

Captain Dinesh Chandimal struck a superb century to help Sri Lanka avoid the follow-on in the third Test against India in Delhi.

Chandimal resumed day three on 38 and advanced to 147 not out as the tourists took their morning 157-3 to 356-9 at stumps – 180 runs adrift of India’s 536 -7 declared.