Former West Indies pacer, Tony Gray reckons Shimron Hetmyer is not yet ready to captain West Indies at the senior level, owing to his inconsistencies.
Gray, 58, shared his view on West Indies’ captaincy woes during a recent appearance on the Mason and Guest radio programme.
According to Gray, “Hetmyer’s not ready to captain a West Indies senior team. He is still growing; he still has a long way to go in my opinion. The captaincy of any team is going to be a very difficult one.”
Gray, who played five Tests and 25 One Day Internationals (ODIs) added, “He is one of the main batsmen. He has not been consistent enough, if he continues to fail, he will lose that power of influence if he is captain so I don’t see Hetmyer being captain.”
The Guyanese left-hand batsman, who led the West Indies under-19s to the World Cup title in 2016, has played 16 Tests scoring five half centuries at an average of 27.9.
He last played Test cricket in November, 2019.
In ODIs Hetmyer averages 35 with five tons and four half centuries from 47 matches while in T20Is he has played 42 times and scored three half centuries and has a strike rate of 118. His best score of 81 not out came during the T20I World Cup earlier this month.
“It’s unfortunate that he has not gone on from being a successful under-19 captain, but captaincy in this day and age, you need certain qualities, not just external qualities, you need to contribute to the team where run scoring is concerned, where wickets is concerned but you need to also understand that you are not just captaining the team on the field of play or off the field of play but you are captaining the team, the West Indies people, so it is a very difficult job, it is a very important job,” Gray stated.
Meanwhile, the former Trinidadian pacer contended that he would remain with his countryman, Kieron Pollard as West Indies’ limited overs captain, describing the all-rounder as, “a very good captain.”
