The dispatches from the Asian sub-continent of the current West Indies tour have not been good, in fact they have very depressing to say the least. The West Indies succumbed (or surrendered, if you prefer) to India inside of three days in each of the two Test matches.
In the Second Test, they flattered to deceive during the first innings; managing to bat through the entire first day on their way to a decent total of 300 odd, then holding the mighty Indian run-compilation machine to a paltry 56 run lead, before falling like nine pins in their second innings for 127, (not even a decent T20 score), in 46.1 overs.
The tour itinerary shifted to the One Day International format on Sunday, and a different West Indies team took the field. Batting first, they put 322 runs on the scoreboard, for the loss of eight wickets, after being 114 for 4 in 21.1 overs. By ODI standards, it was a respectable total, but this was against India, in India. It was about 50 runs too short and the inability of the lacklustre West Indian attack to dismiss elite batsmen was once again exposed.
Virat Kohli, whose appetite for runs in any format of the game appears to be insatiable, and Rohit Sharma, for whom, accumulation of big ODI scores seems to be his favourite pastime, added 246 in 31 overs, (India’s highest ever partnership while chasing), for their fifth double hundred ODI partnership, as India won by eight wickets, with eight overs less one ball, to spare.
Despite the loss, the West Indian cricket fan can still hold his head high, and even wear a cheerful smile, after having witnessed the glorious innings played by the young Guyanese lefthander, Shimron Hetmyer. Playing in only his thirteenth ODI, Hetmyer notched his third century, to follow one against the UAE in March this year at the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe and another versus Bangladesh in July at Providence to lead his side to a three-run win.
Hetmyer’s spectacular seventy-six ball innings of 106, was in complete contrast to the fifty runs he managed in four innings in the Test series. He stroked six sixes and as many boundaries, as he raced to fifty off 41 deliveries and required only another 33 to reach three figures. The 36,000 odd spectators present at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium and the diehard West Indian cricket fans viewing on television around the world will long remember the incredible shot to bring up his hundred. A front foot wallop off of a Mohammed Shami delivery that sailed over the head of the fielder at long off for six that brought the crowd to its feet.
Arriving at the crease with the West Indies precariously placed (perhaps we should add, as is customary these days) on 86 for 3 in the sixteenth over, following Marlon Samuels’ two ball innings, Hetmyer then produced a mature innings to propel the West Indies to a decent score. His dismissal in the thirty-ninth over with the score on 246 is the one fault that can be found in his knock. With the mastery he was displaying over the Indian pacers and spinners, it was necessary for him to have batted out the full complement of allotted overs.
Hetmyer, who led the West Indies to victory over India in the final of the Under-19 World Cup in 2016 has been on the radars of close followers of the game for a while now and the hopes and expectations are beginning to mount, more so, after the recent CPL season during which he became the youngest century maker in the history of the competition, with a forty-nine ball onslaught against the Jamaica Tallawahs in Florida. His 457 runs, the third highest total for the 2018 season, included two fifties, and were plundered at the phenomenal strike rate of 148.14.
Hetmyer has already experienced the vagaries of failure in the game, (he had three ducks in five innings in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup), and came away from his first class debut with a duck in the first innings and four runs in the second. Over the next four ODIs, he has an up-close opportunity to view the modern masters of run accumulation in ODIs, Kohli, Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, at work, as they seize every opportunity (no doubt there will be plenty against the limited West Indies bowling) to add to their ever growing mountains of runs. Their ability to concentrate for long periods on the task at hand, whether chasing a daunting total or setting one, is second to none, an important attribute Hetmyer needs to develop.
Still only 21, the West Indies must be very careful how he is brought along at this stage, especially with the modern day distractions of social media and so much emphasis on the T20 format. At this stage of his development, he would do well to borrow a page from fellow Guyanese Shivnarine Chanderpaul and learn to take great pride in his wicket and make bowlers really earn it. He has the potential to emulate the likes of Kohli and the New Zealander Kane Williamson, true masters of all formats of the current game.
The return of Darren Bravo for the T20 matches against India following the ODIs will serve him in good stead and will certainly take the pressure of being the current ‘go-to-guy’ off of him. If Bravo, who, at present, seems reluctant to return to the arena of Test cricket, does decide to return, he will provide an ideal template for the Test format for Hetmyer to emulate.
Will Hetmyer eventually join the lineage of outstanding Guyanese lefthanders – Clive Lloyd, Roy Fredericks, Alvin Kallicharran, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul – who have produced at the highest level?
