ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – West Indies white ball captain Kieron Pollard has described the exclusion of Shimron Hetmyer, an exciting left-hander from the Twenty20 squad as “a big void” but says the player is aware of what is required to get himself back into the mix of choice.
The 24-year-old Hetmyer was one of four players, the others being Roston Chase, Oshane Thomas and Sheldon Cottrell, who were not considered for selection for the T20 and One-Day International series against Sri Lanka after failing fitness tests.
For Hetmyer, this was the second time he had failed to “reach the minimum fitness standard in time for selective consideration” after a similar event for the tour of Sri Lanka last year.
“[He has left] large space. There’s no secret about that, ”said Pollard as West Indies prepared for yesterday’s Twenty20 International opening at Coolidge Cricket Ground here. “But as has been said over the past few days and I’m sure it’s been a hot topic, I think he knows exactly what he needs to do. He knows the reason and the honesty in the reason he’s not here at the moment.
“Sometimes we just need to be honest and open and straightforward with each other from different perspectives, rather than just trying to impress some situations. “You are damned if you do, you are damned if you are not in some respects but it has left a big, big void and we have clearly expressed our disappointment in that, and ‘ n know exactly what he needs to do to be on these white ball teams. ”
Ironically, Hetmyer was in excellent form for Guyana Jaguars in the recently-concluded Super50 Regional Cup, plundering 300 runs at an average of 50, including one hundred blows in the semi-final against the Windward Volcanoes. Since its international debut four years ago, the Guyanese have become a menace for the West Indies in all three formats, with its explosive innings earning it a reputation as a fearsome stroke maker. His absence from the batting order has left the pressure on veteran trio Chris Gayle, Lendl Simmons and Andre Fletcher, along with the experienced Evin Lewis, and Pollard said their consistency would be key to getting West Indies batting to fire.
“From a T20 perspective, you would obviously want consistency from your top four batters because they have more opportunities to face most deliveries and the other guys come and just try to see if they can finish the pubs or finish the game, ”explained Pollard. “We’re still trying to strike that balance with the guys and personnel we want at the top of the order so Simmons and Evin and Gayle and Fletcher are the world-class batsmen in this squad right now and hopefully we can see some kind of consistency in these three games and try to take it from there. “In T20 cricket, it’s more about impact players and the impact you can have on a cricket match rather than having someone batting all 20 overs and scoring 50, 60 runs.”