Capsey, 18, had been promoted to open the batting for the first time, making 17 from 13 balls, but is set to fly home from the UK and is now a serious doubt for the rest of England’s winter engagements, including the T20 World Cup in South Africa in February.
“Alice Capsey sustained an injury on the field during the first ODI against West Indies Women,” read an ECB statement. “Upon further examination, she has broken her left collar bone and will be unavailable for the remainder of the tour. Capsey will now return home to the UK.”
It’s a major setback both for Capsey personally, but also for England, who had hoped to bed her into her new top-order role, alongside Sophia Dunkley, as part of a new more attacking outlook under the incoming head coach Jon Lewis.
Capsey was awarded her first ECB central contract in November, and had just returned from her maiden stint with Melbourne Stars in the Women’s Big Bash.
“When anyone goes down on the pitch you’re not really sure what’s happened and it’s a weird thing to stand as a group on the pitch and feel sorry for your team-mate, feel sorry for your friend,” Sciver said.
“We found out this morning that she’s going home, so just really, really gutted for her. She’ll be back, she’ll be back firing, I’m sure.
“It’s a broken collarbone and I don’t know how long that means the recovery time is. She’ll be as gutted as anyone really to be missing out on this trip and I don’t know what that means for the new year.”