CPL 2021: Pooran trusting in Hetmyer for captaincy advice

Nicholas Pooran, Guyana Amazon Warriors captain for this season of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL), has undertaken a different approach to captaincy.

In Sunday’s match against St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Pooran did not perform his usual wicketkeeper duties due to Anthony Bramble in the XI.

Instead, Pooran was on the boundary for the latter half of the innings and Shimron Hetmyer – the team’s Vice-captain – became an animated character, setting fields, encouraging bowlers, and there was clear anguish when plans were not executed.

Speaking at a press briefing, the Trinidadian revealed the reason for the relaxed approach and allowing his West Indies teammate to play a more integral role.

“Obviously, I trust in Hetmyer a lot as well; he is the Vice-captain of the team, so I lean on him for a lot of decisions as well; he relates well to the Guyanese players and I am very happy he is showing maturity with his game,” Pooran contended.

Pooran, who is also West Indies Twenty20 International Vice-captain, further stated that “[Hetmyer’s maturity] is something the [world] or the Caribbean is looking forward to in the last couple of months and I am very happy he is showing that level of maturity now.”

Hetmyer, who successfully captained the West Indies Under-19 team to World Cup ecstasy in 2016, has never officially held any leadership capacity in his five seasons with the franchise.

In February 2020, the Berbician was questioned by News Room Sport on whether he has captaincy ambitions for West Indies and he stated it was not a current priority since he wanted to focus on his personal development because he is “still not at the peak” of his career, but “if the opportunity does arise, we will see how it goes.”