By Neto Baptiste
Dropping flamboyant Guyanese batsman Shimron Hetmyer from the senior West Indies team, may not be the best option in motivating the 22-year-old opener.
This is the view of legendary fast bowler and one of four knighted cricketers here, Sir Curtly Ambrose, who believes the 2016 Under-19 World Cup champion is in need of mentorship.
“I’ve heard that argument too, where people are saying they should drop him and let him sit down and watch and maybe he will come back a better cricketer, but I don’t know if that’s the answer. If that’s the answer then, yes, leave him out and let’s see if he comes back a better cricketer,” he said.
“Maybe he doesn’t have that mental capacity to do it on his own and maybe he only plays what he knows and that’s why I keep saying somebody needs to be around him on a regular basis so he can start to understand what it’s all about.”
First selected in the senior squad in 2017, Hetmyer showed clear signs that he has the potential to be one of the game’s best players. He has four centuries in 37 matches and recently became the fourth fastest West Indian batsman to score 1,000 ODI runs.
Sir Curtly, while speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, admitted he is disappointed with the player’s performance lately, but believes it is more mental rather than him not being able to physically and tactically get the job done.
“Well, I am also very disappointed with his performance the last few years because he is such a tremendous talent and very natural but I don’t know if he has anyone talking to him or not but his performances has left a lot to be desired and I think that somebody needs to get into his head because that’s a talent you don’t want to go to waste. We need to get into his head and explain to him that it’s not all about hitting boundaries or getting a quick 30 and get out,” the former fast bowler said. Hetmyer managed only three runs from 11 deliveries in the tea’s opening match against Afghanistan on Wednesday in the first ODI of a five-match series in India. He failed to score in the tour match against the Afghanistan Presidents 11 on November 4th, a match the Windies lost by four wickets.