The Everest Cricket Club in Georgetown, Guyana, has expressed its “dismay and disappointment” over the non-selection of Guyanese batsman Shimron Hetmyer in Cricket West Indies’ 30-man squad for a three-week high-performance red-ball training camp in St. Lucia. The camp started on Sunday last.
Below is a statement by the club.
The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel has named a 30-man squad for a three-week High-Performance Red-Ball training camp in St Lucia which started Sunday, May 16, in preparation for the upcoming Test Series against South Africa.
Talented, performing Guyanese batsman Shimron Hetmyer, who lost his retainer contract for the 2021-22 season, has again been snubbed and not selected for the camp.
The Everest Cricket Club (ECC) registers its dismay and disappointment at the non-selection of Hetmyer for the camp given the 24-year-old’s pedigree. Everest also support the position of the GCB on the issue of criteria and consistency in the selection process.
Hetmyer has been a tremendous talent for West Indies and it is bewildering how a player of his caliber is not among the top 30 in the Caribbean preparing for any international series.
His fitness should not be used as a fault since it should be the intention of a High-Performance camp to aid in the player’s further development.
Given the pandemic and a load of limited-overs cricket for the West Indies on the horizon, most importantly, the defense of the World T20 title come October-November, it would have been wise to have one of your most destructive batsmen in a high-performance camp.
The pros outweigh the cons of allowing Hetmyer simply to return home and possibly join the squad of the Twenty20 International series against South Africa rather than making the investment in him to help improve and in turn be more consistent for West Indies. His inclusion would also be a boost and motivation for the other players.
Furthermore, the ECC is calling for CWI to have fairness in their selection criteria. The ECC will support any system which seeks to create one of meritocracy, but it must be transparent and all should be held to the same standards.
What raises further eyebrows is that the camp has selected players who would have excelled at this year’s Super50 tournament in Antigua or are regular members of the West Indies’ white-ball teams in recent years.
Hetmyer was the fifth leading run-scorer in the tournament with 300 runs from seven innings at an average of 50.00, and a top score of 113.
Some names in the camp are those that have been under-performing tremendously at the Test level but have gotten an opportunity to improve their game. Why was Hetmyer not afforded that opportunity?
It would be unfathomable to think that Hetmyer’s recent exclusion from the West Indies high-performance training camp is setting the stage for the casting away of another bright talent.
We at the Everest Cricket Club call on Cricket West Indies and their selection panel to correct this injustice to the most talented batsman in the West Indies today.
Editor’s Note: Shimron Hetmyer was on Tuesday named in a West Indies provisional 18-man squad to prepare for the upcoming T20I home series against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan.
