Cricket-Windies' Samuels to return home from NZ with wrist injury

Dec 24 (Reuters) - West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels will need surgery on a chronic right wrist injury and has been ruled out of their limited overs series in New Zealand, the country's cricket board said on Tuesday. Wicketkeeper-batsman Chadwick Walton, who has played two tests and the same number of one-day internationals, will replace Samuels in the 15-man squad, the West Indies Cricket Board said in a statement. "It will require surgery management and he returns home to seek that surgical opinion and advice from the West Indies Cricket Board's medical panel, headed by Dr. Akshai Mansingh," the team's physiotherapist C.J. Clark said. West Indies, who lost the test series 2-0 against New Zealand, will play five ODIs, starting in Auckland on Thursday, followed by two Twenty20 internationals. (Writing by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Peter Rutherford)