By Akeem Greene
Shimron Hetmyer was dropped from the West Indies World T20 squad on Monday after cancelling the Cricket West Indies arranged travel plans twice.
The West Indies side is currently in Australia for two Twenty20 Internationals ahead of the World T20 for which they have to play the qualifiers.
Speaking on the eve of the first Twenty20 on Wednesday, Captain Nicholas Pooran indicated players would face consequences for their actions.
According to a release from CWI, the decision by the Selection Panel was made as Hetmyer missed his re-scheduled flight to Australia, which had been changed from Saturday (October 1) at his request, due to family reasons.
On Monday morning, Hetmyer informed the Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams that he would not be able to get to the airport in time for his flight to New York.
“To be honest, that is not my focus at the moment; I just do not want to give the media anything. Decisions have been made and there are consequences for your actions. At the moment, I just want to focus on why we are here and how we are going to achieve our goals”, the skipper stated.
According to Pooran in the lead-up to the global event, they developed specific plans for players to execute and now they will have to change those plans owing to Hetmyer’s absence.
“Yeah, obviously we planned with him but unfortunately he is not here and we have to plan differently now”, Pooran remarked.
In August, Hetmyer pulled out of the One-Day International series against New Zealand due to “personal reasons” as CWI Lead Selector Desmond Haynes explained, “Hetmyer had to attend a family matter in Guyana”.
More so, in May, he informed CWI that he will not be available to play for the team due to the birth of his first child, however, he indicated that he will be returning to the Indian Premier League.
The selection panel was considering Hetmyer for tours to the Netherlands and Pakistan but he informed them of his decision via email.
The 25-year-old only returned to the squad in July for the series against India, after not featuring since the last World T20 in November due to fitness issues.
Full Squad: Nicholas Pooran (Captain), Rovman Powell (Vice-captain), Shamarh Brooks, Yannic Cariah, Johnson Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Obed Mccoy, Raymon Reifer, Odean Smith
