BLOEMFONTEIN, Dec 8: West Indies suffered another injury blow on Monday when off spinner Omari Banks was forced out of the tour of South Africa.

Banks is suffering from a stress fracture of the lower back and becomes the third player to head home because of injury, following paceman Jerome Taylor and batsman Marlon Samuels.

On a brighter note for the tourists, Carlton Baugh (158 not out) and Daren Ganga (101 not out) put on an unbeaten stand of 249 as the West Indies settled for some batting practice and a draw in their four-day tour match against Free State.

West Indies declared their second innings on 289 for three leaving Free State a notional 644 for victory with little more than a session remaining.

The two captains settled on a draw 12 overs before the scheduled close with the home side on 97 for two.

Although West Indies claimed two early wickets to reduce Free State to 16 for two, the lack of support for the opening pair of Mervyn Dillon and Ravi Rampaul made survival for the home side easier than it might have been.

The first Test begins at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday, but South Africa will be without opening batsman Gary Kirsten whose wife is expecting their first child this week.

“It’s disappointing to miss a Test match, but this is a rather different situation and my family must take priority,” Kirsten said.

Prolific Northerns batsman Martin van Jaarsveld is tipped to replace Kirsten.

Scoreboard

WEST INDIES (1st Innings) 618 (S. Chanderpaul 245, R.D. Jacobs 149, B.C. Lara 72, R.R. Sarwan 51).