Shimron Hetmyer has been omitted from West Indies T20 World Cup squad after missing a rescheduled flight to Australia, the country’s cricketing board has confirmed.
Shamarh Brooks will replace the batter in the squad which will take part in the upcoming tournament in Australia.
The 25-year-old who just captained Guyana to the Caribbean Premier League title initially missed the team flight to Australia for family reasons. According to Cricket West Indies (CWI), Hetmyer also failed to make the specially arranged flight to New York, informing the board of his decision.
His failure to comply with the Board’s directive proved to be the last straw.
“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 T20 World Cup squad,” CWI director of cricket Jimmy Adams said.
“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.”
Brooks will fly out later this week to join the team in Melbourne and will be forced to miss the two-match series against Australia on Wednesday at Gold Coast and Friday at Brisbane.
