Shimron Hetmyer out of West Indies' 20-20 World Cup squad after he misses flight to Australia

Shimron Hetmyer (Source: Twitter)

Under unfortunate or rather bizarre circumstances, batter Shimron Hetmyer misses his flight to Australia for the 20-20 World Cup 2022 on October 4, Tuesday, consequently being replaced by Shamarh Brooks in the squad. His flight was initially postponed due to family reasons. But after the Guyanese starlet missed the rescheduled flight, Cricket West Indies (CWI) decided to leave him out of the squad.

Jimmy Adams, the Director of Cricket at CWI, said that the board was not ready to compromise the team’s preparations for an “extremely important” global event as the World Cup. He also said that it was a unanimous decision from the board to replace Hetmyer with Brooks for the tournament.

It was made clear to him: Adams

“This afternoon we informed the CWI Board of Directors that the Selection Panel had unanimously decided to replace Shimron Hetmyer with Shamarh Brooks in our 20-20 World Cup squad,” Adams was quoted as saying.  “Whilst we changed Shimron’s flight from Saturday to Monday due to family reasons, it was made clear to him that if there were any further delays and issues with his travel to Australia then we would have no choice but to replace him in the squad, as we are not prepared to compromise the team’s ability to prepare for this extremely important global event.”

Adams reckons Brooks, who has been part of recent 20-20 games with West indies, has delivered “strong” performances in the recently-concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The CWI director added that Brooks would fly out to Australia as soon as possible. “I wish him all the best for the tournament,” expressed Adams.

West Indies’ World Cup campaign will kick off against Scotland on October 17 in Group  B. The others in the group are Zimbabwe and Ireland. West Indies previously won the World Cup in 2012 and 2014 under the leadership of allrounder Darren Sammy. In the 2021 edition, they were knocked out in the Super 12 stage.

West Indies squad for the 20-20 World Cup 2022: Nicholas Pooran (c), Yannic Cariah, Rovman Powell, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Johnson Charles, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Obed McCoy, Raymon Reifer, Shamarh Brooks, Odeon Smith