Hetmyer not part of West Indian squad: The hard-hitting batsman from West Indies has been excluded from both the T20I and ODI squads.
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West Indies are all set to host international cricket for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak. Sri Lanka’s all-format tour of West Indies will see them playing three T20Is, three ODIs and a couple of Test matches in a just over four-week long tour.
Starting with the T20Is, West Indies are bolstered by the return of veteran players in Universe Boss Chris Gayle and fast bowler Fidel Edwards.
Gayle, who has skipped a part of the ongoing season of the Pakistan Super League to represent West Indies, had last played for them during India’s tour of West Indies in 2019. Edwards, on the other hand, is coming on the back of an established career as a Kolpak player in England’s domestic cricket and having last played for West Indies in 2012.
West Indies T20I squad vs Sri Lanka – Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran (vc), Fabien Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Rovman Powell, Lendl Simmons, Kevin Sinclair.
West Indies ODI squad vs Sri Lanka – Kieron Pollard (c), Shai Hope (vc), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Jason Mohammed, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair.
Why is Shimron Hetmyer not part of West Indian squad for Sri Lanka series?
Despite the return of Gayle and Edwards, West Indies’ white-ball squads are without names such as Sunil Narine, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell and Oshane Thomas.
While Narine had confirmed his unavailability to Cricket West Indies’ lead selector Roger Harper, the others have been excluded after reaching the minimum fitness standards agreed with CWI (Cricket West Indies).
It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time in cricket that players have been made to sit out due to failing to match the optimum fitness standards.
“The policy asks for a minimum standard in certain aspects of fitness testing. It’s pretty simple, and it’s something all the players are aware of: failure to get to [the minimum standard] makes them unavailable for selection,” CWI Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams said in a virtual press conference.
“As is best practice around the world, there are going to be times when players for different reasons might be unable or incapable of achieving minimum standards across either the whole battery of tests or certain aspects of it, and there are exemptions that are given to these players.
“The four main areas that are considered would be age, individual physiological limitations, their injury history and their training history. This is standard across many high-performance environments and we’re no different. There are quite a few players at the moment who have been exempted under one of these four headings. It’s not a secret. It’s been communicated to players.
“This is not a conversation that we like having with players. For me, the minimum standard isn’t something that should apply to an international player. But we draw the line there before there are other considerations outside of just a person’s ability to bat, bowl or field. If you start talking about making it provisional on whether someone has made a score or taken wickets, it doesn’t take us as a team in the direction that we want to go.”
