West Indies suffered a massive setback after their star player Shimron Hetmyer missed the rescheduled flight to Australia, which eventually led to his exclusion from the upcoming T20I World Cup 2022.
The World Cup-bound players flew to Australia in different groups, depending on their availability as most of them were engaged in the Caribbean Premier League. West Indies will be playing a two-match T20I series against Australia ahead of the T20I World Cup.
Hetmyer requested Cricket West Indies (CWI) to arrange a special flight on 3 October due to family reasons, but he couldn’t make it. “The decision by the CWI selection panel was made as Shimron Hetmyer missed his re-scheduled flight to Australia, which had been changed from Saturday 1 October at his request, due to family reasons,” CWI said in a media statement.
The flight availability to Australia has been a real challenge, but the CWI managed to book his tickets to Melbourne via New York. Jimmy Adams, the CWI director, has previously warned Hetmyer that any further delay may result in his exclusion from the tournament.
The selection panel then decided to drop him from the tournament and named Shamarh Brooks as his replacement. Brooks will not play in the T20s against Australia, scheduled to commence tomorrow.
“Shamarh has been a part of our recent T20 International squads and delivered strong performances in the latter stages of the recently concluded CPL. He will fly out as soon as possible this week to Australia and I wish him and all the squad all the very best for the Tournament.”
Both Heymyer and Brooks were recently pitted against each other in the second Qualifier of the CPL 2022, between Jamaica Tallawahs and Guyana Amazon Warriors. Brooks scored a scintillating century, scoring 109 off just 52 deliveries to guide Tallawahs to a 37-run victory. Hetmyer could only manage a run-a-ball 15.
West Indies will begin their World Cup campaign on 17 October, against Scotland. Brooks will be likely to be slotted in the middle-order, along with the skipper Nicholas Pooran, and an explosive Rovman Powell. Other than Hetmyer, they will also be missing Andre Russell and Fabian Allen.
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