Explosive West Indies batsman, Shimron Hetmyer, will be looking to set the Caribbean Premier League alight and steer Guyana Amazon Warriors to their maiden title if this year’s tournament is played.
The 23-year-old left-hander was one of nine players retained by the five-time finalists ahead of the 2020 season.
Stabroek Sport caught up with the former Under-19 World Cup winning captain and he discussed his plans for the tournament.
Hetmyer revealed the special connection he has playing for the Warriors and the joy of being retained.
“It is always a good feeling being retained and moreso the Guyana Amazon Warriors. It is always a team I wanted to play for and my first thoughts about the CPL cricket that was the team I was looking to play for,” he said.
Hetmyer who plies his trade for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League, admitted that last season was not one of his best campaigns, scoring 224 runs from 12 innings with a strike rate of 123.75 and a best of 70 not out but says he has taken away the positives from the tournament.
“Well to be fair last season wasn’t my best of seasons but career-wise it helped me to be more settled with a mindset that failures do come in cricket as well and just to bounce back from that,” he said.
With the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forcing much of the remaining cricketing calendar for the year into uncertainty, Hetmyer reckoned, “In the event that it does pull off I am really and truly thinking about making a bigger impact than last year, trying to make sure we win the title this year because it has been evading us for a few years now so I’ll be working hard as ever to guarantee that we do that this season.”
Despite almost three months of no cricket, the Young Warriors Sports Club hard-hitter has continued to train. He noted, “So far I have been doing a few stuff, I have my treadmill downstairs that I use every day and I have some weights as well, some dumbbells, stability ball and weight ball…I occasionally hit some balls.”
West Indies head coach, Phil Simmons has already been on record starting that the CPL is used as one of the basis for selection for the ICC T20 World Cup squad but Hetmyer posited that he is taking one step at a time.
When asked about his views on the CPL as a platform to push for a spot in the World Cup side, he replied, “Yes I do, but I am not really thinking about the World Cup as yet, I’m trying to take it one step at a time and for me at the moment in this regard is to get CPL out the way first and foremost and help Guyana win the title and hopefully with good performances I get into the World Cup squad.”
Sharing his views on the possible changes in the way the tournament could play, when quizzed about the impact of playing in front of empty stadiums, he opined, “It is a good initiative and safe moreso because we are looking at safety at this time and this will help keep players and fans as safe as possible.”
Hetmyer, who was given the title of the team’s batting director by their manager, Omar Khan, last year, weighed in on the possibilities of no overseas player taking part and added, “I do actually [see it as a big blow] because it does in turn help to develop the local talent as well. In some teams I would think some of the international or overseas players they play a big part in the team so with them not being there it would affect the team but without them, it could help the local players stand up a bit more in their performances and take a bit more responsibility for what they do and their actions as well.”
