Hetmyer and Lewis were dropped from the regional team ahead of the upcoming One Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka, after failing to meet the minimum fitness standard required.
The Windies will play three matches against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club, the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambantota and the Pallakele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy. The ODIs will be followed by two T20 Internationals in Kandy.
According to CWI chief executive Johnny Grave, the duo could return in time for the T20 series if they manage to pass upcoming re-tests.
“In the case of Hetmyer he has been extremely fit and bought into the fitness standards but for whatever reason, the test came back well below the minimum standard, but we expect him to be re-tested in two weeks. Hopefully, he’ll pass the test and be available for selection,” Grave told the SportsMax Zone.
“The squad that we have announced is for the three one day internationals against Sri Lanka. There are two T20 internationals after those and that squad hasn’t been selected. Hopefully, the players will re-take those tests and pass them and be available for selection.”
Hetmyer was retained by the Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2021 auction, despite a lukewarm season in which he scored 185 runs in 11 innings at an average of 23.12 and a strike rate of 148.
However, his compatriots Keemo Pail and Sherfane Rutherford were not as fortunate as they were both released having failed to force their way into the starting line ups for the Capitals and the Mumbai Indians, respectively.
Not surprisingly, Kieron Pollard has been retained by the 2020 champions Mumbai Indians. Pollard was an influential figure in the Indians set up and captained the team in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury at the back end of the season.
Pollard’s compatriot, Dwayne Bravo, who suffered a season-ending injury in 2020, was retained by the Chennai Super Kings. Bravo won the Purple Cap in the 2013 and 2015 seasons. In 2013, he took 32 wickets during the IPL, the most ever for in an IPL, and he continues to be a game-changer for the Super Kings.
Meanwhile, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine were both retained by the Kolkata Knight Riders even after less than stellar seasons. Christopher Gayle and Nicholas Pooran were deservedly retained by the Kings XI Punjab.
Jason Holder, who was signed by the Sunrisers Hyderabad, after Mitchell Marsh suffered an injury early in the season, was retained by the franchise.
It was not all good news for Sheldon Cottrell who was released by Kings XI Punjab after a disappointing season. He was signed for more than USD$1 million. Fabian Allen and Oshane Thomas were released by the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, respectively.
Along with Hetmyer and Hope, the Amazon Warriors have also announced the retention of fast bowler Odean Smith, all-rounders Romario Shepherd an Keemo Paul, spinner Gudakesh Motie as well as Chandrapaul Hemraj, Matthew Nandu and Junior Sinclair.
The overseas players and draft picks will be announced during the Republic Bank CPL draft show which will be broadcast at the end of June.
The tournament gets underway on 16 August with the final taking place on 24 September. There will be matches in Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago.
Shepherd also took a wicket and bowled with pace on a good surface at the Coolidge Cricket Ground. He won the CG Insurance Man-of-the-Match award. Guyana batted first and made 235. After a rain break, the target was revised to 232 off 47 overs. Barbados Pride reached 91-5 in the 30th over when the rain returned and brought an end to the match.
Off-spinner Kevin Sinclair, a member of the victorious West Indies Emerging Players team back in 2019, took 2-17 from 7.3 overs as Guyana Jaguars bowled well. His first wicket was opener Justin Greaves, caught at mid-wicket by Hetmyer and the second was Roston Chase, beaten and bowled.
“I’m really pleased with my performance. I have been working really hard on my batting and I was happy with the way I played and the contribution I made to help the team win,” Shepherd said.
“I’m in good shape and the ball is also coming out really well. This was a good victory for us … you always want to start with a win.”
The 15-member squad was named following a four-day camp at Kensington Oval held to prepare the white-ball players for the upcoming CG United ODI Series, as well as the five-match T20I Series that follows. The selectors have recalled left-handed batsman Shimron Hetmyer and fast bowler Oshane Thomas. Fast bowler Jayden Seales and leg-spinner Yannic Cariah have been included following their rehabilitation from surgery while left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie is also included, having recovered from injury.
Lead Selector, The Most Hon. Dr Desmond Haynes said: “We welcome Oshane and Shimron back into the group. Both have played at the international level before, with some success, and we believe they will fit well into the set-up. Oshane brings pace and is a potential wicket-taker with the new ball. Shimron’s style of batting will offer a lot especially in the middle stage of the innings and he is also a potential ‘finisher’.”
Keemo Paul is out injured while Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran were unavailable for selection.
Kensington Oval hosts the first two matches in the three-match CG United ODI Series on Thursday 27 July and Saturday 29 July. The teams then move to Trinidad for the third and final CG United ODI at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Tuesday 1 August. All three matches start at 9:30am local time (8:30am Jamaica time).
Tickets for the matches are available from box offices at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, as well as Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, and the National Cricket Centre in Couva, Trinidad from Monday 24 July. Additionally, tickets are available online in advance from the Windies Tickets service, presented by Mastercard, at tickets.windiescricket.com .
Fans who purchase online will benefit from a 20% discount compared to the box office prices, with tickets ranging from the most premium seats with the best and shaded views in each stadium through to affordable standard seats or mounds/grounds entry.
FULL SQUAD
Shai Hope (Captain)
Rovman Powell (Vice Captain)
Alick Athanaze
Yannic Cariah
Keacy Carty
Dominic Drakes
Shimron Hetmyer
Alzarri Joseph
Brandon King
Kyle Mayers
Gudakesh Motie
Jayden Seales
Romario Shepherd
Kevin Sinclair
Oshane Thomas
West Indies v India Tour Match Schedule
CG United ODI Series powered by YES BANK
27 July: 1st CG United ODI, Kensington Oval, Barbados
29 July: 2nd CG United ODI, Kensington Oval, Barbados
1 August: 3rd CG United ODI, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad
- start time at 9:30am (8:30am Jamaica)
T20 Internationals
3 August: 1st T20I, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad
6 August: 2nd T20I, Guyana National Stadium, Guyana
8 August: 3rd T20I, Guyana National Stadium, Guyana
12 August: 4th T20I, Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida
13 August: 5th T20I, Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida
- start time at: 10:30am (9:30am Jamaica)
Shimron Hetmyer’s explosive cameo of 42 from 23 balls wasn’t enough to rescue Rajasthan Royals, who fell short in a high-octane chase against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday in the Indian Premier League. The West Indies star’s late flurry, including four towering sixes, brought hope to the Royals but couldn’t eclipse a monumental Sunrisers total of 286-6.
Hetmyer scored 70 from just 35 balls as Gulf Giants scored 196-5 to win with three balls to spare. Despite the impressive knock from the Guyanese batsman, he did not do it alone as Chris Lynn was equally impressive scoring 71 from 42 balls in the winning effort.
Lynn and Hetmyer’s partnership of 117 from 56 balls helped get Gulf Giants’ chase back on track after they had lost Tom Banton, James Vince and Rehan Amhed for three, four and one, respectively, with only 30 runs on the board.
Hetmyer was eventually dismissed in the 14th over having hit five sixes and five fours. Lynn fell in the 17th leaving the dependable David Weise and Liam Dawson to take the Giants to victory.
Weise was unbeaten on 22 from 19 balls while Dawson was not out on 16 from just nine balls in the end.
Sheldon Cottrell was the best of the Vipers’ bowlers with 2-24 from his four overs.
Earlier, Vipers owed their challenging total to Alex Hales 99 from just 57 balls. He hit 10 fours and five sixes in his knock and got support from Colin Munro, who scored 39 from 23 balls and Sherfane Rutherford, who contributed 27 from 15 balls as Desert Vipers scored 195-4 from their allotment.
It proved to be a tough target but one that Hetmyer and Lynn were able to achieve.
Based on an agreement between CWI and the West Indies Player Association (WIPA), players must achieve a rating of 40 during the evaluative yoyo fitness test to be considered for selection.
Adams comments come on the back of the recent non-selection of talented batsman Shimron Hetmyer for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. The 24-year-old had looked in splendid form based on a scoring a majestic 112 in the semi-finals of the CG Insurance Super50 competition, which lifted Guyana to the final. Hetmyer, however, clearly fell below the 40 percent stipulation.
“The policy asks for a minimum standard in certain aspects of the fitness testing. So on the yoyo intermittent test, that minimum standard is 40 and for a couple of years we have had selection tied to the achievement of that minimum standard,” Adams told members of the media via an online press conference chat on Saturday.
“It’s pretty simple and all the players are aware of it. Failure to get to 40 makes them unavailable for selection. So when the panel sits, the first thing that they will consider,before looking at the teams and the squads they want to put together, is who are the players that are available through achieving that minimum standard,” he added.
The occasion was the second that Hetmyer missed out on making the minimum fitness standard, after failing a fitness ahead of a tour against Sri Lanka in February of last year. The player last represented the team in the New Zealand series in November and was called up but opted out of the tour to Bangladesh earlier this month. The test is conducted twice per year.
The Originals, after being inserted by the Spirit, made 135-5 from their 100 balls thanks to 58 from Captain Phil Salt and 38 from Max Holden.
Pacers Richard Gleeson and Olly Stone took two wickets, each, for the Spirit while Andre Russell went wicketless while conceding only 14 from his 10 deliveries.
The Spirit then fell just short of their target, reaching 123-5 from their 100 balls.
Opener Keaton Jennings led the way with 61* off 50 balls while Hetmyer, batting at five, made 44 off 35 balls including three fours and a six.
Fazalhaq Farooqi took 3-24 from 20 balls for the Originals.
This result means the Spirit, like their opponents, have no chance to advance to the knockout phase of the tournament.
This was the Originals’ first win in six games while the Spirit have a similar record and are one spot above them in the eight-team table.
The Orcas restricted their opponents to 144-7 off 20 overs after winning the toss and electing to field.
Akeal Hosein led the way with the bat for the Freedom with an unbeaten 22-ball 33 including a four and a pair of sixes. Earlier, Andries Gous made 28 and Captain, Moises Henriques, made 24 against a pair of wickets, each, from Wayne Parnell and Harmeet Singh.
The Orcas then needed 19.4 overs to reach 148-5 and secure victory. Quinton De Kock led the way with 48 off 37 balls including three fours and as many sixes. All-rounder, Imad Wasim, finished unbeaten on 43 from 38 balls. Shimron Hetmyer contributed 23.
Shimron Hetmyer played a decisive role in the field as the Rajasthan Royals held their nerve to defeat the Chennai Super Kings by six runs in a pulsating IPL encounter on Sunday, snapping a two-game losing skid and reigniting their campaign.
A group consisting of Shimron Hetmyer, Chandrapaul Hemraj, and Keemo Paul were reportedly among those present for the drills, which took place on Monday at the Leonora Stadium.
Hetmyer sent tongues around the region wagging earlier this week after it was revealed that the player was left out of the West Indies squad for the upcoming series against Ireland and England, after failing another fitness test. The situation left head coach Phil Simmons notably frustrated.
According to Crandon, some members of the team have received higher scores this time around, but it seems clear that many of the players were still not at the required fitness levels.
“I think what we have seen today is some improvement from the guys, probably not what we were looking for but at the end of the day, most of them, about 97-98 percent would have improved on their previous scores (in the yo-yo test) so that is a good sign for us, and it also tells the entire group that once you put in the work, you will improve,” Crandon told the Guyana Times.
“It is simple as that. I do not understand why it is difficult for some of these players to understand. You are professionals and they have to put in the work to get to the level of fitness we are looking at.”
The coach revealed that there could be another test in a few days for players who were still not at the required level. The team is currently in preparation for the regional Regional 4-Day Tournament next month.
The legendary spinner, who turned 85-year-old last year, had a good laugh when asked to assess what measures could be taken to get the 23-year-old to consistently produce the type of performances his immense ability often seems to suggest he is capable of.
“I want a belt. I want a belt in my hand when I see him,” Lance quipped during an interview on the Mason and Guest radio show.
The former U-19 World Cup-winning captain has been both a source of both delight and frustration for West Indies fans in recent years. While he has often been revered for his effortless and beautiful stroke play, the player has also been guilty of a certain amount of recklessness, which often gifts his wicket to opponents. Hetmyer was dropped for a few games in February after failing a fitness test.
“You don’t just throw away your hand like that,” Gibbs added.
The spin bowling legend, however, believes that the attitude of some of the modern players is influenced by how much they participate in the shorter formats of the game, which have become the most lucrative.
“We play limited-overs cricket at a fair pace, you have 20 overs you have 50 overs. The 20 overs is a slug, our young players are not putting their heads down to bat for a period of time. We probably need more 50 overs. A youngster like Hetmyer, for example, goes out and always wants to hit the ball for sixes, you don’t bat that way.”
As means of a solution, Gibbs suggested the creation of a formal medium where past generations could be given the chance to meet and mentor the current crop.
Lara, speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, for instance, believes talented 23-year-old Shimron Hetmyer has personal issues like his fitness that he needs to deal with before he is quite ready to take the world by storm.
“People have challenges in different ways and Hetmyer, obviously, is a very talented cricketer, someone who plays all forms of the game for the West Indies. If he is unfit, he has to see it as a personal challenge. Fitness levels are so very important. So if fitness is his problem, I would like to see him face that challenge himself, and he’ll be a much better cricketer,” said Lara.
Lara though, has much more immediate hopes for others in the West Indies squad like Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran and Alzarri Joseph.
According to the former Windies captain, Pooran understands his role in the team, while the West Indies can find Hope’s stability useful, even in the T20 form of the game, while Joseph is a gamechanger with his ability to take wickets.
“I like Nicholas Pooran, he’s settling down and understanding his responsibilities more now. Shai Hope could play a part in the T20 World Cup, being that solid guy with a great technique that can hold the innings together. Those are the three players I’m really looking forward to seeing. Alzarri Joseph is someone who I look at and say ‘this guy has got potential, he’s a wicket-taker’. He is someone who I’d like to see do well,” said Lara.
Lara, as he has said before, believes the team can learn much from the example of Virat Kohli.
Kohli, he said, has worked hard on his fitness and that, Lara explained, is the perfect lead for Hetmyer to follow.
Paul, with brilliant variations in pace and lengths proved the undoing of the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots earlier today, helping, in no uncertain terms, to restrict to them to 127-8.
Despite picking up the wickets of N Kelly and Denesh Ramdin early in the proceedings before proving the undoing of Riyad Emrit and Dominic Drakes and even after helping to run out Ben Dunk, one of the few batsmen to put up any resistance, Paul was not happy.
“I’m just disappointed at the way I got out. It was really disappointing,” said Paul in an interview with the CPL’s Alex Jordan after the game.
Paul failed to score in the game, going leg before wicket to Patriots captain Riyad Emrit, who would go on to finish with 3-31.
“Every time I come to the field, I always want to contribute to the team whether it be bat, with the ball or in the field. So I always try to keep a standard for myself and work extra hard,” said Paul, who had looked visibly upset after getting out, even though at 120-6, chasing 127 in the 16th over, the game was over.
The Amazon warriors would end the game on 131-7 after 17 overs, a three-wicket win on the back of Shimron Hetmyer’s 71.
As far as his bowling goes, Paul understands that he did well.
“We already have our plans for the wicket so we know what we have to do so I am just happy that I executed,” he said.
The 28-year-old batted through the West Indian innings to help them post a formidable 176-7 from their 20 overs on a St. George’s pitch that offered a lot to the bowlers.
“We found it a bit difficult to start. It’s a low and slow pitch. Not what we’re used to here, we usually get a good batting wicket, so, we had to assess very quickly,” said King in a post-match interview.
“We lost some early wickets so we had to try and decide how to go about it in a smart way,” he added.
Individually, King made 82* off 52 balls, his eighth fifty in T20 Internationals, hitting eight fours and five sixes. His first run of the innings was also his 1000th in T20Is.
“I think there’s always some level of luck involved as well,” King said about being able to bat through the innings on that pitch.
“I was the one that got the start in the powerplay. It was difficult for new batters to come in and get going, especially against the spinners. We lost some early wickets so, given that I got the start, I tried to take it as deep as possible,” he added.
The hosts lost the wickets of Kyle Mayers (17), Nicholas Pooran (5), Shai Hope (1) and Shimron Hetmyer (2) all within the first 10 overs of their innings before King and skipper Rovman Powell combined to put on 80 for the fifth wicket.
“Extremely crucial,” was how King described Powell’s innings of 50 from 28 balls including a 30-run 16th over off Sam Curran.
“A fantastic innings from him. He eased the pressure off me a little bit as well. Nobody has the power that he has. There are some shots only he can play so it was very important at that stage of the innings that he got those quick runs,” King added.
Powell’s heroics were needed after England’s spin duo of Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed accounted for the wickets of Pooran, Hope and Hetmyer.
“The spinners. You could see from early they were getting some purchase from the wicket with the new ball. Adil Rashid is obviously a very experienced bowler who knows how to bowl around the world. He bowled an excellent spell. It was important to us to not give him too many wickets and take the majority of the runs off the pace bowlers,” King said.
On the bowling side for the West Indies, King said his teammates did well to follow the game plan and use information from their own innings.
“Taking the information from the first innings, we knew what lengths were difficult. We went out and tried to apply that in the field. The guys fielded well as well so we’re very happy with that,” he said.
He also singled out Gudakesh Motie for conceding just nine runs in his spell.
“Excellent spell from him. To bowl four overs for nine runs in a T20 game is amazing. A good call from the skipper and the coach to bring him in for this game. Obviously, they read the pitch very well so he was crucial for us today,” he said.
The West indies will have a chance to clinch the series with on Saturday in the third T20I beginning at 12:30pm Jamaica Time (1:30pm ECT) at the same venue.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors won the toss and chose to bat, a cautious start saw them score 66 runs in the first 10 overs, but captain Shimron Hetmyer produced tantalising innings, scoring 46 off just 21 balls, to take his side to 162-6 at the end of the innings.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in turn lost frequent wickets throughout their chase, with the Warriors stifling them at regular intervals. However, a remarkable display of power-hitting from Dwaine Pretorius saw the side score 22 runs in the final over and earn a first win in this year’s CPL season with two balls remaining.
Guyana Amazon Warriors were frustrated early on by some excellent bowling by Sheldon Cottrell and Duan Jansen, who claimed the early wicket of Paul Stirling. Chandrapual Hemraj played a patient innings to build a platform, scoring 43 runs, before Hetmyer displayed some attacking intent, scoring at a strike rate of 219, to take his side to 162-6.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots followed a similar pattern, taking a patient approach to the start of their chase after losing the valuable wicket of Evin Lewis in the second over. Andre Fletcher went on to score 41 runs for the Patriots before his dismissal but the wickets of both Dwayne Bravo and Darren Bravo in the 16th over had seemingly ended the Patriots' chances of a win, before Jansen and Pretorius combined in the final overs with a 55-run partnership to guide the side to a remarkable win.
This was the Patriots first win of the season, while Guyana Amazon Warriors remain winless after three games.
Johnson was 65 not out and shared two successive, significant stands to prop up his side’s batting as the Jaguars closed on 145 for 3 after they had stumbled to 25 for two.
He added 74 for the third wicket with West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer, who got 32, and has added 46 – unbroken – with Christopher Barnwell, not out on 28.
Earlier, Cottoy made 56 and Shillingford hit 53 to give proof that there was a sting in the Volcanoes’ tail after they resumed from their overnight total of 212 for six.
Cottoy and Shillingford became the second and third batsmen to score half-centuries in the Volcanoes’ innings after their captain Kavem Hodge scored 53 on an opening day.
After Cottoy fell to left-arm pacer Raymon Reifer, Shillingford added 57 for the eighth wicket with Shermon Lewis to further frustrate the Jaguars.
But Shillingford was one of three wickets – two to Test left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul – that fell for 23 in 42 balls to bring the innings to a close at 318.
Permaul ended with 4-59 from 33.5 overs and West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo finished with 3-73 from 20 overs for the Jaguars.
The 24-year-old has been in the spotlight in recent weeks after losing his international retainer contract with Cricket West Indies. The young batsman has long been considered to be one of the region’s premier talents but has struggled to hit top gear in recent seasons.
In Test cricket, where he has not played for the team since 2019, he averages 27.93 having played 16 matches. In One Day International cricket, where he last played in January of last year, he averages 36.66. In T20 international cricket, he averages 18.95 with a strike rate of 116.97.
In addition, the player has struggled with fitness issues, twice failing a fitness test during the period, ahead of a subsequent tour of Sri Lanka last year and a visit of the same team earlier this year.
“The guy has got ability, we know that all he has to do is produce the runs and there should be no problem,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“We all know Pooran, Hetmyer these are very talented guys, but that talent must come out with runs. For a bowler it’s wickets,” he added.
“I would like to say to all the young people, Mr. Hetmyer and the rest of the gentlemen. They are asking you to be fit, they want you to produce the goods. If you do well, we would have a world-beating team.”
Hetmyer was left out of the team for the upcoming visits of Ireland and England after failing to pass fitness drills administered in his home country of Guyana recently.
The occasion is the third in the last three years that the athlete is failing to get a passing grade for the West Indies basic fitness requirement. Hetmyer was first left out of the squad in 2020, ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, and then again later that year during the home visit of the same team.
Simmons expressed frustration that Hetmyer was not only letting down himself but failing to maintain the required standards but also the entire team.
“It’s the same old, same old. He did his fitness assessment in Guyana and he came way below the required mark,” Simmons told members of the media during a conference call on Friday.
“Again, it is something that is heart-wrenching because you know that you are part of this team, and you have to keep a certain fitness to be part of this team and you keep letting down your teammates.”
Simmons added the player was also “letting down himself.”
