Captain missed third match after experiencing pain during England’s warm-up
An ECB statement added: “Follow-up testing revealed he sustained a right thigh-muscle injury which, whilst relatively minor, will prevent him from playing further games during the current tour.”
Morgan, 35, made scores of 17 from 29 balls and 13 from 12 in England’s first two fixtures – the former innings coming in the midst of a top-order collapse that included the loss of three wickets in the first two overs, and an eventual total of 103 all out.
England bounced back to win the second match, although West Indies’ lower-order battled back from the brink to reduce the margin to a solitary run.
Although England are currently ranked as the No. 1 T20I team in the world, Morgan had identified this campaign as an opportunity to expand their options ahead of the next T20 World Cup in Australia in November.
“The whole tour is one where the development of our game is more important than a series win,” Morgan said ahead of the first T20I. “We’ve gone through this process before, and identifying the level of intensity, and our performance is far more important than the result.”
The squad in the Caribbean had already been missing a core of proven performers, with Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood among those rested following their involvement in the Ashes, while Jofra Archer has been absent following his recent elbow operation – although he has been back training with his team-mates on this trip.
In Morgan’s absence on Wednesday, England gave a T20I debut to Phil Salt, with Harry Brook and George Garton also making their maiden England appearances in place of Sam Billings and Saqib Mahmood, who was hit for 28 runs in his final over of the second match.
“A lot of talented guys will get opportunities throughout this series which is very exciting, not only for the team, but for them as well,” Morgan added. “They don’t get a lot of opportunity to go through a process like this so, for our long-term planning, as we strive to have deeper, stronger squads, it’s very important. The group that we would normally take to a World Cup has been together for quite some time, so the planning behind that is important to us.”
Moeen will continue to lead the team in Morgan’s absence for the final two back-to-back fixtures on Saturday and Sunday. England, currently 2-1 down, must win both to claim the series.