Fast bowler Kemar Roach has been ruled out of the remainder of the West Indies’ tour of England, West Indies Cricket Board sources say.

Roach has been sidelined with shin muscle soreness and will return home to Barbados to allow this to heal before starting a bowling program again.

West Indies team physiotherapist C J Clark said Roach’s workload has led to muscle soreness due to the repeated strain of bowling at high velocities.

“Kemar has been carrying this soreness for the last two matches, and in view of our upcoming schedule, we would like him to have the time to recover and prevent the onset of more serious injury,” said Clark.

Roach has been West Indies’ most effective bowler in the two Tests played in England, taking eight wickets at 34.25 apiece.

He did not travel with the rest of the squad on Wednesday to Leicester, where West Indies face Leicestershire in a two-day, tour match at Grace Road, starting on Saturday. Instead, he returned to London and departed for home.

West Indies coach Ottis Gibson said Roach was a major loss, but the decision was taken in the best interest of the fast bowler.

“We still have an awful lot of cricket to play this year and we did not want to risk losing as valuable a player as Kemar for a long period,” said Gibson.

West Indies trail 0-2 against England in the Test series, but Gibson indicated Tino Best and Fidel Edwards were chomping at the bit to play, and felt the two fast bowlers were more than enough firepower on the ground to replace Roach.